Weather vane at the Veazie Salmon Club
Salmon scorecard for 2009 at the Veazie Dam
The Bangor Daily News has THIS story today:
Will the salmon clubs survive?
Seasoned anglers say federal endangered status for species is a "kick in the teeth" and could spell the end of a storied Maine pastime
By John Holyoke | BDN Staff
In the days before the scheduled opening day of this year's month-long catch-and-release salmon season on the Penobscot River, Douglas "Cap" Introne and his 14-year-old son, Christopher, made plans to spend as much time as possible on the river. Then everything changed. The Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission changed tack in response to a meeting between federal officials and Gov. John Baldacci. The season was scuttled. There would be no fishing.On Monday, the federal government decided to list wild Atlantic salmon as endangered in the Penobscot, Kennebec and Androscoggin rivers while designating a large swath of nearby rivers and lakes as critical habitat. This is described in the BDN article as "another blow" to salmon anglers.
"When [Christopher] learned that he couldn't go fishing this year, he started to cry" ...
The article goes on to quote a number of people who are upset, and some, including Governor Baldacci, provided the (evidently rejected) reasonable alternative of merely listing the salmon as threatened.
I do think I understand the feelings of many people who will be shut out of a traditional recreational activity for a long time. These views are very important to the story. However I think commentators who argue against the value of scientific study and science-based policy-making (see the comments below the article), or those who feel that because many salmon currently are hatchery-raised the fishery is somehow "artificial," are barking up the wrong tree. What they say may contain truth, but without science and hatcheries, "natural," fishable salmon runs never will be restored like everyone wants.
These comments both within the main story and many of those from the general public below do not represent the full range of information necessary to understand the story. The article itself almost lacks entirely the crucial perspective of proponents of the listing and it contains no explanation at all of the motivation behind the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deciding at this time to apply the strongest protection available under the Endangered Species Act. THIS press release from an organization that promotes this listing action may help:
Endangered Atlantic Salmon Earn Expanded Protection in Maine, Receive 12,000 River Miles of Critical Habitat
RICHMOND, Vt.? Responding to lawsuits filed in 2007 and 2008 by the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups, the National Marine Fisheries Service has protected Atlantic salmon in three additional river systems in Maine under the Endangered Species Act, including the Penobscot, Kennebec, and Androscoggin rivers, and designated about 12,000 miles of rivers and estuaries, as well as 300 square miles of lakes, as critical habitat.I visit the Veazie Salmon Club many times each week as an appreciative neighbor. I do not fish for salmon, though I do some lake fishing. I suppose without a local tradition of salmon fishing, this marvelous little spot on the river would not be there like it is.
"Maine's wild salmon deserve a fighting chance, and now they have it," said Mollie Matteson, conservation advocate for the Center. "Dams, pollution, water withdrawals, and other threats must be curbed or stopped if Atlantic salmon are to have a future in Maine."
Atlantic salmon populations have declined dramatically throughout most of their range along the eastern seaboard and in the rivers they return to for spawning. Dams, overfishing, degradation of river habitat, introduction of nonnative fish species, and water diversions have all taken a heavy toll.
Designation of critical habitat is a key component of protecting and recovering endangered species, and is required by law. In 2000, salmon in several smaller rivers in eastern Maine were listed as endangered, but the government failed to designate federally protected habitat. The Center and the Conservation Law Foundation filed suit in 2007. In May of 2008, the Center, along with Friends of Merrymeeting Bay and activist Douglas Watts, filed suit to expand salmon protection to include Maine's most significant rivers. The Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a preliminary decision on both critical habitat and listing expansion in September of last year. This week's action finalizes the initial proposal made last fall.
Conservationists are celebrating the new legal protections for the imperiled fish, but point to a significant shortcoming in the critical habitat designation. Only currently occupied habitat is protected at this time.
"The point of federal protection is to recover species," states Matteson. "The salmon is in grave danger of extinction, in part, because of its severely and artificially limited range. It makes no logical sense to say we will only protect its present range. Its historic habitats must be protected, too, if recovery is ever to become reality."
I'll leave this discussion with a plea for everyone to look at the big picture: the changes in the habitat over the last two centuries are utterly profound. This is a clash between industrial society and the environmental conditions the salmon population needs to survive and build. Since the dams first went up, the salmon basically are the losers. Change in their favor will take a long, long time and will require a lot of different communities, stakeholders, government entities--including sport fishers--to understand this big picture and pull in the same direction.
In that sense, I think that this is a positive story. Government policy and money is essential to survival of the habitat and hence the salmon. I'm certainly no Republican, but I think the Penobscot restoration and Forest Legacy project is something that really happened right during the Bush years. But seeing the results? That will be very, very long term. I hope the Salmon Clubs can evolve and survive in the meantime.
Related archive posts:
- Federal appropriation for Penobscot restoration
- Veazie Dam removal funds enacted
- A Win for the Penobscot River
- Friday nature blogging
- Big powerful river; One minute at the Veazie Dam
- Two minutes at the Veazie Dam
Posted by The Owl at 16:02. Filed under: Environment
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