Salmon commission turns down fishway

BANGOR – After a lengthy session of verbal casting, Maine’s Atlantic Sea-Run Salmon Commission voted Wednesday evening not to endorse a proposal to build a fishway at Grand Falls, New Brunswick, and introduce salmon to the upper St. John River.

With the exception of commission member Bill Brennan, who abstained, the vote was unanimous, 5-0.

The basis of the vote was: 1. The commission can’t meet its statutory responsibilities because of inadequate funds and staff. 2. Lack of adequate information in the proposal to determine fiscal and scientific implications. 3. Absence of a joint planning effort among affected U.S. and Canadian agencies. 4. Real concern for the political and ecological impacts, which have not been adequately addressed.

The proposal to introduce Atlantic salmon above Grand Falls, where the fish are non-indigenous, originally was introduced in January 1984 by a joint U.S-Canadian group called SALEN.

Because the river forms the international boundary between the U.S. and Canada, the proposed project involves the latter’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which would provide fry for stocking.

The proposal was initially opposed by the ASRSC. But after some political pressure, the proposal was endorsed in November 1984.

Because of its projected economic benefits, support for the proposal is high in the St. John River Valley. Fisheries biologists of Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, however, oppose the project because of concerns that the introduction of Atlantic salmon may adversely impact northern Maine’s wild brook trout and landlocked salmon fisheries.

Also, the biologists are concerned about biological contamination by bass and perch entering the upper St. John watershed via the proposed Grand Falls fishway.