Gulf of Maine Projects1996 Coastal Habitat Restoration Report
Anadromous fishEfforts are underway throughout the Gulf to restore anadromous fish populations, including Atlantic salmon, river herring, shad, smelt, and sturgeon. These fish depend on various marine, estuarine, and freshwater habitats and have been impacted by dams, the loss of spawning habitat, and poor water quality. Projects address fish passage, fish populations, spawning habitat, and bordering riparian habitats. In the United States, projects focus on the Merrimack River in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and 12 significant rivers in Maine, including the Aroostook, St. Croix, Dennys, East Machias, Machias, Pleasant, Narraguagus, Union, Penobscot, Ducktrap, Sheepscot, Kennebec, Androscoggin, and Saco. Eight projects have been expanded over the past two years through funding provided by the recently formed Maine Atlantic Salmon Watersheds Collaborative (MASWC). It can be expected, with the drafting of the Maine Atlantic Salmon Conservation Plan and the petition to list the Atlantic salmon as an endangered species, that the number of projects in Maine will increase. In Canada, federal and provincial government agencies collaborate with non-government organizations to restore anadromous fish habitat on tributaries of the St. Croix, St. John, Petitcodiac, Kennebecasis, and Annapolis rivers. Work in Canada has primarily involved restoration of spawning habitat. Future projects should be part of watershed-based plans and should be modeled after projects like those initiated through the MASWC in Maine and the Trout Creek Model Watershed Project in Sussex, New Brunswick. Despite all restoration efforts to date, Atlantic salmon populations continue to decline in the Gulf of Maine for reasons that are still unclear. Seabirds -- Monitoring and Evaluation
|
Download the complete report