Vol. 4, No. 1 Contents
Headline Back Issues
Winter 1999
|
Maine awaits Fed's decision on Atlantic salmon listingBy Suzy Fried, Editor Washington County, Maine - As the federal government deliberates over whether to list Atlantic salmon as an endangered species in eight eastern and mid-coast Maine rivers, supporters and opponents of the controversial proposal continue to debate. In November, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) jointly proposed protecting, under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Atlantic salmon indigenous to the Dennys, East Machias, Machias, Pleasant, Narraguagus, Ducktrap, and Sheepscot rivers and Cove Brook, a tributary of the Penobscot River. USFWS and NMFS must make their decision by November 17, 2000. While acknowledging the state's efforts to conserve Atlantic salmon under its 1997 Maine Salmon Conservation Plan, the agencies said the fish's population levels in those rivers are dangerously low, and that the species will not recover without ESA protection. The plan would provide a foundation for additional measures, they noted. Supporters of the listing proposal have said withdrawals of river water for agricultural use - such as blueberry and cranberry irrigation - can damage salmon habitat. They also cited aquaculture operations as posing threats to wild stocks through disease and interbreeding between wild fish and fish farm escapees. But in a December 2 statement on the Internet, Maine Governor Angus King argued that listing the salmon will lead to burdensome restrictions on these industries, damaging the region's and the state's economy while doing little to restore the fish's populations. King attributes most salmon losses to intense fishing by foreign fishing fleets and federally protected natural predators, assertions disputed by supporters of the listing proposal, including the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). Listing salmon as endangered would not necessitate the end of the region's economy, according to NRCM Executive Director Everett B. ("Brownie") Carson. "ESA explicitly requires recovery plans to balance species protection with economic and societal factors," he said, adding that federal protection could entail funding for state conservation efforts. Once before, the US government proposed listing Atlantic salmon in Maine as threatened under the ESA, but withdrew the proposal in 1997 in favor of supporting the state's plan. King said the agencies have not given the five-year plan time to work, and described their recent action as a betrayal. King also disputed the federal government's description of the salmon in the eight rivers as a genetically distinct wild population, stating, "They are the product of more than 50 years - in the case of the Penobscot, more than 100 years - of hatchery stocking from a variety of sources." He and members of Maine's Congressional delegation have called for a peer review of the federal agencies' biological studies. On January 24, days before public hearings on the proposal, Maine legislators passed a resolution asking the federal government to reconsider. The resolution also reaffirmed the state's commitment to Atlantic salmon restoration, and appropriated more than $800,000 to be added to the $1 million already committed to for the state's salmon conservation plan. A month earlier, the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission had banned all recreational fishing of Atlantic salmon, including catch-and-re-lease, to protect declining populations.In Canada, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has recommended that the Atlantic salmon population in the upper Bay of Fundy be listed as endangered under the proposed federal Species At Risk Act, according to John Ritter of DFO's Maritimes Region, who noted that DFO is developing a recovery plan for the fish. "Things are critical with respect to this group of salmon," he said.
|
||||||||||
