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Home , Atlantic salmon, Salmo, Salmon

U.S. & Wildlife Service Atlantic salar

While at one time hundreds of highly migratory, undertaking long Ducktrap, Sheepscot rivers and Cove thousands of made marine migrations between U.S. rivers Brook – were protected as endangered their epic migration from the oceans and a wide expanse of the northwest under the Endangered Act. of to their natal rivers in Atlantic Ocean. , now it would be a privilege Together, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to see even a few of these powerful The journey Service and the State of Maine have creatures. Depleted by a combination Most Atlantic salmon of U.S. origin a river-specific stocking program of , pollution and dams, spend two winters in the ocean working toward the restoration this once-prominent salmon species is before returning to freshwater to and stability of the Atlantic salmon severely reduced. Now we must rely . These adult Atlantic salmon populations in Maine rivers. on fish hatcheries to provide enough average from 28 to 30 inches long and young for the species to survive. weigh from 8 to 12 pounds. Although uncommon, adults can grow as large Historically in North America, as 30 pounds. In the United States, Atlantic salmon once stretched from most adult Atlantic salmon ascend Ungava Bay, , to the rivers of Maine rivers beginning in spring and Long Island Sound, but now the only continuing through the autumn, with remaining wild U.S. populations swim migration peaking in June. in Maine rivers. Going home Early life So how do these fish find their way Atlantic salmon spawn in freshwater from the oceans of Greenland all rivers and streams during autumn. the way back to their natal rivers? remain in gravel substrates Well, it isn’t GPS or a map. Atlantic and hatch during winter. Tiny young salmon actually imprint upon their salmon, called fry, emerge from the home river by olfactory sense during gravel in spring. smoltification.

Imprinting allows Atlantic salmon to recognize the chemical fingerprint of their home river. Using this olfactory USFWS ability, the salmon can find their way Craig Brook National Fish hatchery home from the middle of the ocean to the stream where they were born. Craig Book National Fish Hatchery is the oldest public salmon hatchery in

USFWS The recovery story the nation and the last refuge in the Atlantic salmon fry with sac Atlantic salmon populations have United States for federally endangered been declining since the Industrial Atlantic salmon. Craig Brook raises Until now, the salmon have looked like Revolution because of dam construction and releases up to 1.5 million juvenile any other minnow, but soon dark bands with no or inadequate fish passage, salmon – 1-inch fry and 6-inch smolts – and red spots can be seen on their pollution, overfishing, illegal , to recover populations. sides. The colorful juvenile salmon, habitat loss and other factors. The most called parr, remain in freshwater one significant threats now are poor marine As part of a river-specific stocking to three years before undergoing survival and dams obstructing fish program begun in 1994, young Atlantic “smoltification” to prepare for passage. salmon are captured each year from migrating to the ocean. the Dennys, Machias, East Machias, In December 2000, wild Atlantic salmon Pleasant, Narraguagus and Sheepscot Atlantic salmon are anadromous, populations in small coastal rivers in rivers and brought to the hatchery to meaning they travel from the to Maine – the Dennys, East Machias, be raised as broodstock. The Atlantic spawn in . These fish are Machias, Pleasant, Narraguagus, salmon recovery program at Craig USFWS Atlantic salmon female

Brook mimics the species’ river- In addition to salmon originally specific life cycle. Offspring are raised protected in 2000, Atlantic salmon separately by river population and from the Penobscot, Kennebec released as fry or smolts into their and Androscoggin rivers now have parents’ home river, thereby protecting Endangered Species Act protection. the genetic integrity of the salmon in Salmon in these larger rivers were each of these watersheds. added because they are genetically similar or reside in watersheds with Biologists also release 2 million juvenile similar conditions to those found in the fish each year to restore the Atlantic coastal rivers of Maine. salmon population in Maine’s largest river, the Penobscot. The Penobscot lost The restoration story all its native salmon north of Bangor by The Nashua, North Attleboro, the mid-20th century, but has become Pittsford, Richard Cronin and White America’s greatest salmon restoration River national fish hatcheries produce success story. salmon fry to restore lost populations in the , Merrimack and The has the only Pawcatuck rivers. Salmon in these salmon population with sufficient rivers are not protected by the numbers of returning adults to support Endangered Species Act. Hundreds of an adult capture program. About people, from schoolchildren to adults, 400 returning adult females and 200 assist each spring in stocking fry into males are temporarily captured for these rivers and their tributaries as use as broodstock. They are released an investment in the future of Atlantic after artificial spawning. Most of the salmon. returning Penobscot adults are allowed to pass unobstructed at Veazie Dam U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to continue their upstream migration 300 Westgate Center Drive to spawn naturally in the river’s Hadley, MA 01037 headwaters. 413/253 8200

More salmon rivers have protection Federal Relay Service Based on a review of the status of for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Atlantic salmon in Maine, in June 2009 1 800/877 8339 NOAA’s Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service redefined the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service population of Gulf of Maine Atlantic 1 800/344 WILD salmon and extended Endangered http://www.fws.gov Species Act protection to salmon in large Maine rivers to help prevent June 2009 and to recover the imperiled population.