Fewer Than 100 Atlantic Salmon Return To Eight Maine Rivers

[hatrack]

GLOUCESTER, Massachusetts, June 24, 2004 (ENS) - "With fewer than 100 adult salmon returning from the sea to spawn last year in eight Maine rivers where they were hatched, fisheries officials have decided to draft a recovery plan.

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission are seeking public comments on a draft plan to recover endangered Atlantic salmon in the eight rivers.

Wild Atlantic salmon in the Sheepscot, Dennys, Machias, East Machias, Narraguagus, Ducktrap and Pleasant rivers, and Cove Brook were identified as an endangered distinct population segment and were officially protected in 2000 under the federal Endangered Species Act. But the population has continued to decline, and the goal of the recovery plan is to halt this decline into extinction.

Initial recovery efforts will focus on reducing the most severe threats to the population's continued survival - acidified water, mixing of wild and farmed fish, take of adults and juvenile fish by anglers, predation and competition, and excessive or unregulated water withdrawals that may affect salmon habitat."

EDIT

http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=32961

[Submariner]

1. In the late '70s

the Atlantic Salmon fishery had yet to be exploited (read destroyed) because nobody knew where to catch them. The only salmon species to survive spawning (unlike the Pacific salmon) the Atlantics would go back to sea and thrive.

Following radio tagged Atlantics leaving the northeast rivers, they were found to propagate at the southwest corner of Greenland, if I recall correctly. Once their home feeding grounds were exposed that's all it took for this story to emerge 25 years later. Another fishery decimated and trashed.

[Submariner]

2. NOAA Recovery Plan just issued

DRAFT RECOVERY PLAN ISSUED FOR MAINE ATLANTIC SALMON
Agencies Seek Public Comment

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, and the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission are seeking comments
on a draft plan to recover endangered Atlantic salmon in eight Maine
rivers. The plan complements current conservation efforts, particularly
those described in Maine's Atlantic Salmon Conservation Plan. NOAA, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is an agency of the U.S.

Department of Commerce.

All comments received from the public during the 90-day comment period
will be considered by the agencies during preparation of the final
Atlantic salmon recovery plan. The agencies will hold two public
meetings in Maine to discuss the plan with the public and to accept
comments. A panel of independent experts will also review the plan.

Wild Atlantic salmon in the Sheepscot, Dennys, Machias, East Machias,
Narraguagus, Ducktrap and Pleasant rivers, and Cove Brook were
identified as an endangered distinct population segment and were
afforded protection in 2000 under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The population has continued to decline, with fewer than 100 adult fish
returning to the eight rivers to spawn in 2003.

The primary objective of the recovery plan is to halt the decline of
endangered Atlantic salmon. Initial recovery efforts will focus on
reducing the most severe threats to the population's continued survival.

These include acidified water, mixing of wild and farmed fish, take of
adults and juvenile fish by anglers, predation and competition, and
excessive or unregulated water withdrawals that may affect salmon
habitat.


For full recovery, according to the plan, actions also include
protecting and restoring freshwater and estuarine habitat, supplementing

naturally spawning fish with hatchery-reared salmon from the same
rivers, conserving the population's genetic integrity, assessing the
fish during key stages in their lives, promoting salmon recovery through

outreach and education, and assessing and revising the recovery program
over time.

The ESA requires the federal agencies to develop a recovery plan to
identify specific management actions necessary for the conservation and
survival of the species, as well as measurable criteria for determining
when recovery is achieved. The plan must also provide time and cost
estimates for recovery activities.

A notice announcing the availability of the draft recovery plan and
requesting comments published today in the Federal Register. Comments
must be received by September 16. Comments can be submitted by e-mail to

[e-mail], or by regular mail to: Attn: Mark Minton,
Atlantic Salmon Recovery Plan Coordinator, NOAA's National Marine
Fisheries Service, One Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. For
further information, contact Mark Minton at NOAA Fisheries, phone
978-281-9328 x6534 or Martin Miller at USFWS, phone [phone].