Still an upstream battle (Atlantic salmon, Maine)

[jpak]

http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/3868437.html

SOUTH CHINA -- Fish biologist Paul Christman was busy stocking Branch Pond on Wednesday with 88,000 tiny Atlantic salmon.

The non-feeding fry, or alevin, are just a half-inch in length, and even the experts have no way to predict how many will survive. But Christman, based in Sidney with the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, said the fish are not making a dramatic comeback. "They've declined to dismal numbers, but at least they're holding steady," he said.

"I'm holding my breath."

Biologists believe no more than 10 adult fish return on their own to the Sheepscot River, and that means about five females to lay eggs. The natural cycle of spawning hangs by a thread -- and for now, no fishing of Atlantic salmon is permitted anywhere in Maine. An experimental season was tried last year on the Penobscot River and could be repeated.

The commission, partnered with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, is doing its best to restore the native salmon run on the Sheepscot, each spring stocking it with 200,000 fish from the Craig Brook hatchery in Orland. But the goal is to restore natural spawning, and not to prop up the population by stocking. For now, stocking is imperative, Christman said.

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