AUGUSTA – Anglers likely will have to wait until 2008, at the earliest, for a springtime Atlantic salmon season in Maine waters.

The head of the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission said Thursday that reopening the Penobscot River to a catch-and-release salmon season this spring would be too risky to the fragile fish population. The last spring salmon fishing season in Maine was held in 1999.

“The board has been consistent with its approach to recreational fishing opportunities: Science, conservatively interpreted, must drive the decision to open any fishery,” Dick Ruhlin, chairman of the commission, said in a statement.

“Once you look at the science – combined with the annual run of returning salmon – it is clear that unlimited angling over a four- to six-week proposed period could jeopardize existing recovery efforts at this critical time.”

Back in December, when Ruhlin and the other two board members asked staff to gauge the risks of a spring season, the board still was celebrating the completion of Maine’s first salmon season of the millennium.

The 30-day fall fishery attracted more than 200 fishermen from around the country to the banks of the Penobscot near Bangor. Although only one fish was caught, the commission still deemed the experimental season a success.

But any salmon angler will tell you that the best fishing is in the spring, when the salmon – regarded as one of the most kingly of all freshwater sport fish – are fat, feisty and hard to hook as they make their way from the Atlantic to their ancestral spawning grounds.

If the risks were deemed manageable, the board likely would have scheduled public hearings on whether to hold a catch-and-release season in the spring.

Commission staff examined the number of anglers during past seasons, the number of sea-run salmon returning to the Penobscot in recent years, as well as anticipated water temperatures during May and June.

Staff then combined the information to estimate that eight to 10 adult salmon could die as a result of the season. If half of those were female, that would mean tens of thousands fewer eggs going into the federal hatcheries or into the river naturally.

The three-member commission is expected to take up the issue during its March 8 meeting in Augusta.

The decision is bound to upset some salmon fishermen who for years have been pushing for a spring fishery.

Gayland Hachey, a longtime angler and owner of Hachey’s Rod and Fly Shop in Veazie, said the decision will certainly disappoint many fishermen, himself included. Hachey said salmon anglers are responsible and know when, where and how to fish without seriously injuring the fish.

He said the state could easily suspend all fishing if the activity is harming the fish, as fisheries managers do in Alaska and the Canadian Maritimes. Hachey, who blames politics for the decision, said a spring fishery would help stimulate the economy and interest in the sport.

“It’s been seven years now,” Hachey said. “They’ve lost a lot of support and they are going to lose more.”

Anglers still may get a chance to fish for salmon in the Penobscot this year, however. During its March meeting, the commission likely will discuss holding another limited fall season.

“I’m anticipating the board will approve that fishery,” said Patrick Keliher, the commission’s executive director.

On average, about 900 to 1,000 adult salmon returned annually to the Penobscot to spawn in recent years. That is many times higher than adult returns for all other New England rivers combined. But even 1,000-plus adults is a fraction of the Penobscot’s historic returns, back before dams, overfishing and pollution took their toll on the fish population.