Be part of the solution to restore Atlantic salmon

I wish to go on record as being opposed to the closing of rivers and streams in Maine to fishing for Atlantic salmon as well as to their probable listing as a threatened or endangered species.

For the past 25 to 30 years, the habitat for Atlantic salmon in Maine has steadily improved and will continue to improve for several important reasons:

The efforts of agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service and the 16 Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Maine which have been instrumental in drastically reducing non-point source pollutants from forest and agricultural lands that drain into our rivers and streams; and the implementation of a relatively new program to fund the removal of unnecessary dams and other obstructions to fish passage on our flowing waterbodies. The Penobscot County SWCD has been especially active in these programs as evidenced by their involvement in the Kenduskeag Stream and Sebasticook Lake watershed projects as well as the recent removal of a dam on Souadabscook Stream in Hampden.

More and more stringent regulations are being implemented by communities and Maine Department of Environmental Protection to govern the use and development of lands that drain into our rivers and streams.

Federal programs like the 319 Clean Water Act that provide funding to Maine DEP for implementing measures that keep our lakes and rivers clean. Ongoing projects include Branch Lake, which flows into Union River in Ellsworth and Cold Stream Pond in West Enfield, which flows into the Penobscot River, both significant Atlantic salmon rivers. These projects are overseen by the Maine DEP and implemented by the Hancock County and Penobscot County SWCDs.

From the above, we can see that the habitat for Atlantic salmon should be significantly better than what it was during the peak salmon runs of the 1980s. Yet, salmon runs have now diminished to the point where we have to consider drastic measures to “save them.” This tells me that the cause of the problem is not in Maine, but elsewhere. The new law that closes fishing for Atlantic salmon in Maine under the impression that it will somehow help to restore these fish raises some serious questions. How much good will it do to stop fishing for a fish that isn’t here? If we do hook an occasional salmon, it is hooked on a fly and quickly released.

Survival rates for fish hooked and released in this manner by knowledgeable fly fishers approach 100 percent. What will happen to those who fish for other species such as striped bass, trout, smallmouth bass, etc., in waters that are known to be frequented by Atlantic salmon? Will they be breaking the law? How will this law be enforced? Aren’t our game wardens spread thin enough as it is? Why should they be spending valuable time on rivers where there are no salmon to catch? How about the dedicated Atlantic salmon anglers who really don’t care whether they hook a fish or not as long as they are able to cast a fly for salmon. Will he or she ever be able to cast a fly for Atlantic salmon in Maine again in their lifetime, or will they have to pay outrageous sums of money to pursue their sport in other countries?

Let’s do something productive to try to restore this magnificent gamefish instead of caving in to a minority of irrational and emotional environmental interests. The public majority really doesn’t care whether an Atlantic salmon is genetically “pure” or not so genetically “pure.” There are more viable and publicly acceptable options to solving this problem than the ill conceived law that prohibits Atlantic salmon fishing statewide and the proposal to listing an endangered or threatened species:

Since it is estimated that less than one percent of the salmon fry that are hatched return to spawn, we should be stocking as many fry, parr and smolt in our salmon rivers as biologically possible and practical.

Do whatever it takes to significantly minimize predation of smolt in our waters.

Maximize our efforts to negotiate with all other countries to eliminate commercial harvesting of salmon that spawn in North American waters.

Last, but certainly not least, do whatever is necessary to find the real cause of the problem and then hit it with both barrels whether it be predation, commercial harvesting, change of ocean currents due to global warming, etc.

The old adage still stands, “If we are not part of the solution, we’re part of the problem.” Let’s try to be part of the real solution. Let’s stop wasting taxpayers’ money on academic and ivory tower endeavors and do what really needs to be done to try to restore the Atlantic salmon in the waters of this state.

Joe Bertolaccini lives in Orrington.