Over 5.8 million river herring return after Maine dam removals

Maine's Penobscot River is seeing a striking fish comeback after the Great Works and Veazie dams were removed in 2012 and 2013, reopening about 15 kilometres of its main channel. By October 12, 2026, the state's Department of Marine Resources had provisionally counted 5,852,487 river herring at the Milford fish lift, compared with just 556 before the restoration.