The favorite part of his job is “The fact that I live locally and am helping to maintain and enhance the Saco River resource,” says marine biologist Matt LeBlanc.
As an environmental specialist working for Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners L.P., a Quebec-based international producer of renewable energy, the Dayton man is responsible for managing the five Saco River fish passage facilities between Cataract Dam in downtown Saco, the base of his operation, and Hiram Falls Dam in Steep Falls.
LeBlanc, 47, is a University of New England graduate with 22 years on the job.
One of his main duties is to oversee the anadromous fish species, such as herring, American shad and Atlantic salmon, that live in the ocean and migrate back to fresh water to spawn. Many fish travel through the hydroelectric dam fishways to their spawning grounds. But others must be trapped and trucked above dams that lack a fish passage.
LeBlanc is also responsible for collecting data about these species to provide a record of age, sex and size. He also reports to federal fisheries agencies on everything that is done during the fish passage season.
The least favorite part of his job, LeBlanc says, is having to clean up the trash and debris that people leave behind at the river. “We work very hard to preserve this resource and it is very difficult to see how some people abuse it.”
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