Maine’s salmon restoration efforts lauded at meeting

ORONO – A top federal Department of the Interior official praised Maine’s collaborative efforts to protect and replenish populations of Atlantic salmon on Wednesday, adding that such “cooperative conservation” is key to addressing natural resources issues.

Speaking at a conference on the overwinter survival of young salmon, Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett said she is witnessing more cooperation nationwide among private landowners, special-interest groups and government bodies to make progress on serious environmental issues.

From landowners in Western states working with government agencies to manage scarce water sources to dairy farmers in Eastern states teaming up with environmental groups to improve stream quality, groups often found on opposite sides of issues are identifying mutual goals and bringing creative solutions to the table, she said.

Maine’s salmon restoration efforts are another good example, Scarlett said.

“You’re not necessarily going to come to a shared political philosophy, and you don’t need to. What you need to come to is a shared goal that less sediment is a good thing,” Scarlett said, referring to one factor believed to be harming salmon populations.

Wednesday’s gathering at the University of Maine brought together dozens of representatives of local, state and federal agencies, environmental groups, landowners and academics all interested in saving Maine’s depleted stocks of wild Atlantic salmon.

The workshop was held by Project SHARE, a nonprofit organization working with the different stakeholders and public agencies to protect and restore salmon habitat in five Down East rivers: the Dennys, Machias, East Machias, Pleasant and Narraguagus. Atlantic salmon have been declared endangered in those five rivers plus three others in Maine.

Most of the other speakers during the workshop’s morning session discussed research into why salmon populations Down East have plummeted and continue to struggle despite aggressive stocking and river cleanup projects.

John Kocik, a fisheries scientist with the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said studies in the Narraguagus River revealed survival rates of juvenile salmon are even more dire than expected.

Kocik estimated that less than 30 percent of salmon survived from what’s known as the “parr” stage, when they are about 2 inches long and generally a year or two old, to the “smolt” stage.

Salmon smolts are the first to leave the river where they hatch and head toward the ocean where they develop into mature salmon within two to three years.

University of New Brunswick researcher Rick Cunjak said his team’s studies showed that, depending on the year, anywhere from 30 percent to 60 percent of juvenile salmon do not survive the winter in relatively pristine Canadian rivers. Those figures will likely be higher in rivers affected by development and pollution, he said.

For more information on Project SHARE, visit online: www.salmonhabitat.org.