Atlantic Salmon
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region
When young Atlantic salmon leave their natal rivers in the spring, it takes them until mid-summer to reach the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador. After spending one to three years at sea, Maine-born salmon return to where they were born to spawn.
Atlantic salmon – the “king of fish” – were once abundant in the northeastern United States and were a major food source for the Wabanaki tribes. Dams, logging, pollution, and overfishing not only nearly brought the fish to extinction but disrupted longstanding Wabanaki fishing traditions and connections to Maine’s rivers. Today, a handful of Maine’s rivers support the only remaining wild populations of this critically endangered fish in the United States.
Maine’s efforts to protect and restore Atlantic salmon began in the 1800s, but it wasn’t until 2000, when the Gulf of Maine population was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, that recovery efforts entered an intensive phase.
Tribal, state, municipal, federal, and international partnerships support today’s restoration efforts, which include dam removals, fish passage projects, habitat restoration, and fish stocking programs. While Atlantic salmon remain endangered in Maine, they are slowly returning to parts of their historic range for the first time in generations.
Author: Stephanie Bouchard
