Monday, August 3, 2020

Penobscot River Salmon Run Surges for Second Straight Year

Posted by Wayne G. Barber 


Atlantic salmon are endangered, with only a few runs remaining in Maine rivers.

In encouraging news, preliminary* numbers of endangered Atlantic salmon returning to Maine’s Penobscot River for 2020 are the highest since 2011. On July 28, Maine’s Department of Marine Resources reported 1,426 salmon returns, up from 1,076 in 2019. These numbers are a vast improvement from 2014, when only 248 Atlantic salmon returned to the river to spawn. The Penobscot River hosts the largest remaining run of Atlantic salmon in the United States, but numbers are just a fraction of what they used to be—75,000 to 100,000 Atlantic salmon used to return to the river to spawn.

“There’s a lot of variability in the salmon runs, and high years can be followed by low years,” cautions NOAA Fisheries Atlantic Salmon Recovery Coordinator Dan Tierney. “We have a long way to go to recover the species, but it’s great to see that we’re moving in the right direction.

Counting Fish in a Box

Every year, returning fish pass through the Milford lift, a fish elevator with a viewing window. Installed in 2014 by hydroelectric dam owner Brookfield Renewable Energy Group, the fish lift provides access to the river above the dam, which otherwise would not be passable.

The fish swim into a box at the base of the Milford Dam, and when filled, the box rises to the top of the dam, and lets the fish out. Staff from both the Maine Department of Marine Resources and Brookfield record the fish as they pass through the viewing window.

In addition to increasing numbers of Atlantic salmon, there is good news for other sea-run fish (fish that move from rivers to sea). Alewife and blueback herring returns have increased dramatically from approximately 2,000 in 2011, to 585,000 in 2015, to more than 1.9 million this year. American shad are up from 2,000 in 2015 to more than 11,000 this year. Other species counted in the lift this year include sea lamprey, white sucker, striped bass, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, brook trout, and shortnose sturgeon.

Taking Action for Atlantic Salmon Recovery

In 2015, we listed Atlantic salmon as a Species in the Spotlight to help focus resources, grow partnerships, and engage the public in helping save the “King of Fish.” We released a joint Atlantic Salmon Recovery Plan with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2019, and are continuing to work in several areas to recover the species.

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