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The owners of 9 dams on the Saco River, FPL Energy, may agree to install 4 new fishways as part of its relicensing agreement with the Maine and federal agencies.

The Bar Mills dam, which needs to be relicensed, is the first upstream dam with no fish passage. Local agencies, including the Saco River Salmon Club, have been working with officials to gain upstream and downstream access for fish and american eels as part of the negotiations. Licenses can last up to 50 years, so the terms of the agreement can have a long-lasting impact.

If the agreement is signed, FPL could be finishing the first fish passage at Bar Mills by 2016.