O'Donnell demonstrated in a slide show why the Department of Marine Resources continues to stock alewives in the Sebasticook watershed. The department plans to stock Great Moose Lake in Hartland with 21,504 alewives this year. All three ponds drain into the west branch of the Sebasticook. O'Donnell explained that alewives are native to both the Kennebec and Sebasticook watersheds. Moreover, he said, they are an important food source for game fish, birds and fur-bearing mammals.
Alewives spawn in fresh water and head downstream in early autumn.
They then live in the ocean for three or four years before returning to their spawning grounds. That statistic caught the attention of Merlon Emery, a member of the Big Indian Lake Association. Emery asked if the purpose of the alewife program is to benefit lobster fishermen. He also said the local lakes are doing fine as it is. Our fishery suits us very well.