Atlantic salmon on U.S. endangered species list

Tom King, manager of the Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery in Orland, Maine, holds a sea run Atlantic salmon, now placed on the endangered species list for several Maine rivers

November 14, 2000
Web posted at: 12:00 PM EST (1700 GMT)

BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed wild Atlantic salmon as an endangered species on Monday despite objections from the governor of Maine, who sees the action as a threat to two other industries.

The listing places restrictions on Maine's aquaculture industry as well as the production of blueberries, a product almost as famous as the state's lobsters. As a result, Maine Gov. Angus King fears people will lose their jobs.

Listing the wild Atlantic salmon "severely regulates the irrigation use of the rivers" where the fish spawn, reducing the amount of water available for the blueberry growers, explained John Ripley, a spokesman for King.

The listing also means new rules and regulations will go into effect restricting the types of salmon that Maine's aquaculture farms are allowed to raise. Nearly 90 percent of the state's aquaculture revenue comes from the sale of farm-raised Atlantic salmon. Maine supplies about 25 percent of the fish to the East Coast of the United States.

Besides said Ripley, "Over the past 100 years or more, something like 100 million salmon have been reintroduced into Maine's rivers. There's no chance that the original wild strain could survive."

Maine launched its own plan to save the species in the mid-1990s and federal officials conceded the state has made significant progress. But "disease and other threats remain," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, head of the Wildlife Service, in a statement.

"Less than 10 percent of the fish needed for the long-term survival of wild Atlantic salmon are returning to Maine rivers," Clark said.

Penny Dalton, director of the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, told reporters in a conference call that the wild salmon population was so low in both Maine and Canada that "its very survival is threatened."

The two federal agencies say the listing covers the wild population found in seven of Maine's rivers and a brook. Federal officials, for example, documented the return of only one adult wild salmon in the Denny's River this year while recording 29 aquaculture "escapees."

A number of the Maine's aquaculture farms use the rivers for their salmon hatcheries and federal officials are trying to prevent the farm-raised salmon from mixing with the wild population.

Paul Nickerson of the Marine Fisheries Service said his agency would be working with the farms to prevent "escapees" from the hatcheries and try to phase out "the European strain" of salmon.

Meanwhile, Congress has appropriated $500,000 for the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study of the salmon and determine whether there is a distinct species to list as endangered.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Dam removal: Too little, too late for salmon?
November 3, 2000
River ladder aids salmon's uphill battle
October 27, 2000
Salmon battered by man and nature
October 27, 2000
Freeing the Snake River could mean salmon salvation
August 29, 2000

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
NOAA Fisheries
National Academy of Sciences

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.