BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 9, 2025
Sea Run, a report published by the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission, discusses how the Wabanaki Nations’ freedom and ability to fish for sea-run species has been nearly eliminated and the status of those fish populations from European contact until today. Before contact, river herring, shad, salmon, striped bass, and sturgeon swam up Maine’s rivers in the millions to spawn in our brooks and lakes. They were a primary food source for Wabanaki people and then for early colonists, but the Wabanaki were intentionally separated from the fisheries, first by colonial governments targeting their fishing sites and villages and later by Maine as it took Wabanaki lands and waters for dams and industrial development. The report emphasizes progress in the restoration of sea-run fish migrations including a state policy favoring restoration, the removal of major dams and other impediments to fish passage, and efforts to improve policy on water quality standards. Finally, Sea Run recommends ways Maine and the Wabanaki Nations can foster traditional Wabanaki practices while enhancing the state policy of restoring sea-run fish to their historic place in Maine’s ecology. ~ Judd Esty-Kendall, retired, Pine Tree Legal Assistance; Tony Sutton, professor, UMaine