Fall fishing for salmon is best start

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On Monday, Atlantic salmon enthusiasts flocked to Brewer to hear a presentation and offer ideas on the reopening of the Penobscot River fishery as soon as 2006.

Some longtime anglers were excited at the opportunity – any opportunity – to fish on the river for the first time since 1999.

And others urged the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission to take a closer look at opening a spring season before settling for one held during September and October.

After listening to ASC biologist Joan Trial’s presentation twice now, it seems that the most likely proposal would call for an autumn season.

That won’t satisfy everybody. In fact, it may make some anglers downright angry.

When Trial explains her detailed data, it becomes readily apparent why the ASC would decide a fall season is best.

When Trial talks, and when she starts explaining her research, one word keeps cropping up.

Conservative.

Trial wants to make sure that no matter what the ASC decides, the science that helped lead to that decision isn’t overly optimistic.

More fish may return. Fewer anglers may fish. Fewer fish may die after being hooked and released.

But Trial will remain conservative in her estimates.

That’s a good, safe way to go, especially when you’re talking about a river where salmon returns had dropped precipitously before a recent rebound.

At some point in the future, the Penobscot may be opened during the traditional spring season.

Since the ASC has yet to even formulate a new fishing rule, it’s theoretically possible that it may happen very soon.

But don’t expect it. And don’t get mad if you don’t get it.

Enjoying a traditional spring season is the best-case scenario, and the ASC’s research tends to view the Penobscot reopening through a more conservative worst-case prism.

I can live with that.

Atlantic salmon anglers are a rare breed. They’re often well-heeled and well-educated. They selflessly spend their time and money on restoration efforts, and many have studied the species exhaustively.

As such, salmon anglers can also turn out to be among the most opinionated folks you’ll find on a Maine river.

It didn’t take long during Monday’s meeting for an angler to challenge ASC staffers with this we-know-better-than-you classic: “I hope you listen to the fishermen.”

ASC Executive Director Pat Keliher often talks about “eating the elephant one bite at a time” when it comes to salmon restoration and the reopening of Maine’s rivers.

In 2006, a fall fishery for Atlantic salmon on the Penobscot may well be that first bite.

And even the anglers who want a return to a more traditional spring season will probably agree that simply fishing – in any month of the year – is a “bite” that they’ll thoroughly savor.

Escaped fish a concern

Keeping with our salmon theme, the Atlantic Salmon Federation issued a press release on Wednesday that Maine anglers may find interesting.

The ASF says that tens of thousands of salmon from Cooke Aquaculture in New Brunswick have escaped … and they’re likely to end up in U.S. and Canadian rivers.

According to ASF President Bill Taylor, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the New Brunswick government have been slow to prevent and mitigate the recent escapes and have been reluctant to share any information with the public.

“This is just one of a series of escapes since the spring and still no action by government, nor do they feel any necessity to provide the public and the U.S. government with information on the escapes,” Taylor said.

Taylor said that because the aquaculture industry in Canada is not required to report escapes, and because of the less-than-forthcoming attitude of government entities, “We don’t know how many fish have escaped.”

Despite aquaculture claims that the fish were not mature and would not spawn in the rivers, Taylor said six escaped fish have entered the Magaguadavic River, where they may in fact spawn with wild salmon.

Many wild salmon conservationists take issue with claims that breeding between wild and farm-raised salmon poses no problem. They say scientists have documented that those offspring have a weakened ability to survive in the wild.

According to the ASF, the escaped salmon “are a very real threat to the last vestiges of wild Atlantic salmon that are listed as endangered in the five Down East Maine rivers: the Dennys, Pleasant, Narraguagus, Machias and East Machias.”

Taylor said that correcting the problem at this point will prove very problematic.

“ASF’s research in Cobscook Bay indicates that recapture efforts will be ineffectual as escaped salmon disperse very quickly once released from sea cages in this fast-current area,” he said. “Like escaped prisoners, they don’t hang around the detention center for long.”

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.