Wild Atlantic salmon populations were once abundant in the United States as far south as the Housatonic River in Connecticut. Atlantic salmon were an important food source that was highly sought after by Native American tribes in the Northeast and American colonists up until the late 1800s. In the late 1800s, Maine’s Fisheries Commissioner, Charles Atkins, suggested that based on the number of weirs and the average daily yield described by fishermen, Atlantic salmon annual harvests in the Kennebec River alone may have once exceeded 200,000 fish.
Find out more about their status, life history (nice illustration), threats, regulations, population trends, conservation efforts, and critical habitat.
What we are doing to recover Atlantic salmon:
Research
Researchers at the Maine Field Station are working to recover wild populations of Atlantic salmon and other fish that migrate between fresh and salt water (diadromous). Employees from both the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office make up the Northeast Atlantic Salmon Team, who are working on a variety of efforts–from studying the water chemistry, turbidity, salinity, and dynamics of the Penobscot River estuary during the smolt migration period to acoustically tagging smolts to find out more about migration and habitat use to conducting trawl surveys to find out more about the fish community–all to help Atlantic salmon recover. Find out more about Atlantic salmon recovery planning.
Recovery Planning
NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service worked together to develop the first Recovery Plan for the Atlantic salmon (Gulf of Maine DPS), published in 2005. The plan includes a threats assessment and recovery strategy that has been implemented. A new plan, based on 10 more years of data and work to recover the species, is due out later this summer. Additionally, NOAA Fisheries works closely with the Penobscot Indian Nation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Maine Department of Marine Resources to manage Atlantic salmon cooperatively under the Atlantic salmon framework.
International Coordination
NASCO, the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization, is an inter-governmental convention with six parties–Canada, Denmark (on behalf of the Faroe Islands and Greenland), European Union, Norway, Russian Federation, and U.S.–working together to manage Atlantic salmon throughout their range, from their rivers of birth to their feeding grounds in the sub-Arctic to fisheries zones of other countries.
Habitat Restoration
Dams have been identified as one of the primary threats causing the Gulf of Maine DPS of Atlantic salmon to be in danger of extinction. More than 90% of Maine’s rivers and streams are impacted from the effects of dams. In fact, only approximately 8% of their historic spawning and rearing habitat in Maine is currently accessible. More than 400 dams exist along the rivers and streams that currently support wild Atlantic salmon in Maine and only 75 of these have fishways, a structure such as a fish ladder that allows fish to swim around barriers to reach their natural spawning grounds. Restoring access to historic spawning and rearing habitat is a priority for NOAA Fisheries. NOAA Fisheries focuses on highest priority river restoration projects that are cost-effective, allow for unimpeded fish passage, and restore riverine ecological services.
Education and Outreach
The Northeast Atlantic Salmon Team works to raise awareness of Atlantic salmon and their associated ecosystems and promote the stewardship of healthy rivers, estuaries, and oceans by reaching out to audiences from school-age children to the general public to scientists and resource managers.
Check out our Atlantic Salmon Fact Sheets
This article is Part 4 of our 5 Part Atlantic Salmon Series
Part 1: The Challenges and Successes of Restoring Atlantic Salmon
Part 2: Myriad of Challenges to Survive at Sea
Part 3: Penobscot River: Unbuild It and They Will Come