Salmon commission switching gears with a new 10-year strategic plan

MACHIAS – Tasked with reversing the trend of the Atlantic salmon species failing to return to Maine’s rivers, the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission is adopting a new approach toward its agenda.

An improved leadership position and better communication – plus simply a different way at looking at ecosystems – highlight the elements for the commission’s new strategic plan for the next 10 years.

The internal draft for that plan was revealed Wednesday evening during a public informational session in the lecture hall at the University of Maine at Machias. A dozen people showed up to listen, most of them involved with local watershed councils.

“I wish we had a full room,” said Dick Ruhlin, chairman of the agency’s board of directors. “But the lack of listeners translates to a distancing of the public from salmon rivers.

“People don’t have salmon in their lives the way they used to. The salmon just aren’t there for recreational fishing or for watching the migration.”

Atlantic salmon once dominated Maine’s coastal rivers. Now, fewer than 2,000 fish return annually to an estimated 23 rivers.

The commission has been at work since 1998, when the Maine Legislature recognized the national significance of the fish and re-established the commission. Its charge is “to conduct and coordinate all projects involving research, planning, management, restoration or propagation of the Atlantic salmon,” according to the agency’s Web site.

The commission “itself is a relic of how Atlantic salmon has been managed in the past,” the draft plan reads in part, “with activities that focus on collection of population assessment data.”

But not all of that data has even been analyzed, the presenters acknowledged Wednesday.

The focus of the commission’s 18 full-time and seven part-time biologists will shift, said Melissa Laser, the agency’s staff planner.

“They are so trained to focus on fish, so it’s a challenge to ask them to think about ecosystems instead,” Laser said. “We are establishing a protocol for how to do research, rather than just collect data.”

The plan also directs the commission to move forward with private and public cooperation as well as outreach and community engagement.

“The biggest challenge is to reconnect the fish back to the people,” said Patrick Keliher, the commission’s executive director. “The populations of some rivers for returning salmon is down to single digits.”

About 1,320 adult salmon were counted in the Penobscot River last fall, which is the highest count of salmon returns on the Penobscot since 1998. It was 209 more salmon than were counted in 2003.

But beyond the Penobscot, salmon counts varied dramatically for 2004, especially in the eight federally protected rivers. Counts from last fall included:

. Union River (federally protected), one fish, same as 2003.

. Narraguagus River (federally protected), 10 fish, down from 21 in 2003.

. Pleasant River (federally protected), one fish, down from two in 2003.

. Dennys River (federally protected), one fish, down from eight in 2003.

. St. Croix River (federally protected), eight fish, down from 15 in 2003. Two suspected aquaculture escapees were also caught on the St. Croix.

. Androscoggin River, 11 fish, up from two in 2003.

. Saco River, 10 fish, down from 39 in 2003.

. Aroostook River, eight fish, up from two in 2003.

A second public discussion of the commission’s proposed plan takes place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 2, at the University of Maine at Augusta. Comments from the public will be taken through June 3.

The commission will return to Machias on Monday, June 13, when its board of directors meets to review and adopt the final plan.