Rare fish halts river dredging plan

Shawn Regan
CNHI News Service

HAVERHILL, Mass. March 22, 2008 03:46 pm

— Although it looks like it swam the seas when dinosaurs roamed the planet, the Merrimack River's most famous bottom-dweller doesn't have teeth.
Unfortunately, for those who had hoped to see the Haverhill run of the river made deeper, the federal law that protects the rare fish does.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has ruled the Haverhill stretch, particularly the waters off the downtown area, cannot be dredged because the work would disrupt the spawning areas of the shortnose sturgeon, a prehistoric-looking creature that lays eggs among rocks that would be removed during dredging, federal officials said.
The 16-mile channel from Haverhill to Newburyport was dug by the federal government in 1899. It is supposed to be at least 7 feet deep in all locations, Army Corps officials have said. Recent tests show the channel is 4 to 6 feet deep in many places, however, particularly off downtown Haverhill. There also are sandy shoals where the river is as shallow as 3 feet.
The goal of dredging would have been to make the river at least 8 feet deep, Mayor James Fiorentini said.
The mayor called the Army Corps of Engineers' ruling a blow to the city's efforts to make the river navigable for large commercial party and tour boats. The city was hoping to lure larger boats downtown, where their passengers would patronize shops and restaurants.
"We can still get some larger boats downtown during high tide, so this isn't the end of the world," Fiorentini said. "We're still going forward with many other projects to use the river. We knew we wouldn't be able to do everything."
The mayor is looking to add public boat docks and build a riverwalk along the downtown stretch of the waterway, as well as enact new zoning to make sure future development does not block views of the river or public access to it. Workers are expected to start building two sections of boardwalk this summer, and the City Council is considering the mayor's riverfront zoning proposal.
The best estimate for how many shortnose sturgeon are in the channel is between 20 and 100, according to a 1993 study.
"Any dredging work in the river could potentially have detrimental impacts in the shortnosed sturgeon," reads a March 13 letter to Fiorentini from Duban Montoya of the Army Corps of Engineers. "Any impact to the sturgeon population could very well mean the end of the species in the river."
Nonetheless, Fiorentini said he has not given up hope federal officials may eventually allow the city to dredge small areas of the river that aren't near the sturgeon's spawning grounds. He said he is trying to set up a meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Marine Fisheries Service to talk about whether spot dredging is possible. The fisheries service is charged with protecting the sturgeon and other rare species.
Montoya, who led the review of the city's request to dredge the river, could not be reached Thursday.
However, at a meeting in Haverhill last year, he said the presence of the sturgeon was going to be a tough hurdle to clear.
"The federal law has a lot of teeth and can stop a project cold," Montoya said at the meeting. "The National Marine Fisheries Service is definitely going to oppose us, so we are going to have to make a strong case to justify going forward."
Officials with the Army Corps of Engineers have said the rocky river bottom between the Basiliere and Comeau bridges, along the downtown stretch of the Merrimack, is ideally suited for the sturgeon to lay and hide eggs.
"Any changes to that habitat, even while the fish are not spawning, could prove fatal to the sturgeon's survival," Montoya said in his March 13 letter.
In the spring, the fish lay eggs on rocks along the riverbed between the bridges, according to Todd Randall, the Army Corps of Engineers' biologist. The eggs then fall into the cracks and crevices of the rocks until they hatch, he said.
After the eggs hatch, the infant fish stay hidden in the rocks for about a month until they are able to swim away. The fish stay in the river until they reach adulthood in about five or six years, and then they venture out to sea. They return in the spring to spawn in the rocky riverbed off downtown Haverhill.
The state's work to demolish the old Comeau Bridge at the west end of downtown and build a new bridge there was slowed several times during the spawning season because of the fish. The new bridge finally opened in September.
The shortnose sturgeon, also called the little sturgeon, grows up to 3 feet long, weighs up to 5 or 6 pounds and can live up to 60 years.


About the shortnose sturgeon
Size: 2 to 3 feet long, average weight 5 to 6 pounds.
Age: Matures at about 14 years, can live to 60.
Characteristics: Shark-like tail, four sensory barbels that protrude from nose to suck up food
Endangered status: Declared endangered by the federal government. Harming or harassing one is punishable by a fine of up to $20,000.
In Merrimack River: Estimated to be between 20 and 100 between Newburyport and Haverhill
Habits: Bottom-feeders that eat worms and mollusks.

Merrimack River channel
Runs: From Newburyport at the mouth of the Atlantic Ocean to the Comeau Bridge in Haverhill
Length: 16 miles
Built by: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1899
Current depth: 4 to 6 feet in most places, 3 feet in some spots
Original depth: 7 feet throughout the waterway

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