Atlantic Salmon in Maine (2004) / Chapter Skim
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3 Threats to Atlantic Salmon in Maine
3 Threats to Atlantic Salmon in Maine
Pages 47-107
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From page 47... ...
In this chapter, we discuss the major factors that have adversely affected wild salmon in Maine since human contact. Others have evaluated factors that adversely affect Atlantic salmon in eastern North America.
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From page 48... ...
Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (50 CFR 17, 224) to support listing Atlantic salmon as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
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While a recovery plan called for under the ESA is being developed, conservation efforts are being carried forward under the Atlantic Salmon Conservation Plan for Seven Maine Rivers (Maine Atlantic Salmon Task Force 1997)
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The properties of the soils and watersheds generally yield high quality freshwater streams and rivers with good salmon habitat. Changes in Climate and Ocean Conditions For as long as information about the earth's and New England's climates has been available, the information tells a story of continual climate change.
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to temperature could also complicate the rehabilitation of wild Atlantic salmon populations. The committee judges that some degree of climate warming or change in the hydrologic regime could be tolerated if most of the other problems affecting Maine's salmon are reduced.
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. Return rates clearly have been declining in many areas, including in all of Maine's rivers (Reddin et al.
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1982) lacks brown and lake trout and largemouth bass but supports rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
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At least three agencies in Maine are stocking fish (most of which are piscivorous) : The Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and the U.S.
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From page 55... ...
. The loss might be higher in the smaller salmon rivers with shallow water and pools closer to the coastal rookeries, but the committee has seen no evidence that the overall return rate of salmon to those various rivers is significantly less than the return rate to the Penobscot.
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From page 56... ...
ABORIGINAL, COMMERCIAL, AND RECREATIONAL SALMON FISHERIES IN MAINE Atlantic salmon have long been valued for sport and for food. Native Americans used them for subsistence, at least to some degree, as did early European settlers.
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From page 57... ...
The Susquehanna Tradition replaced the Moorehead Phase around 3800 B.P., occupying the same coastal sites but having a more shore-based diet consisting of deer, moose, shallow-water fish, shellfish, and seals. Around 2500 B.P., Maine Indians occupied most coastal shell middens and showed a renewed dependence on fish and marine mammals, such as gray and harbor seals; moose and deer; and shallow-water fishes such as flounder, sturgeon, and cod (Bourque 1995)
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From page 58... ...
She considers the biological explanation (that salmon were relatively rare) to be the most probable because the archaeological record contains ample evidence that Native Americans had the capacity to harvest salmon (Carlson 1988, 1993)
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Except for a few years surrounding the Great Depression, harvests never rebounded. The two world wars, and declining stocks, water quality, and human interest probably all contributed to the variable but inexorably downward trend in salmon landings after 1910.
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. As late as 1997, commercial fishing off Canada and Greenland took 144 metric tons of adult salmon, equivalent to about 27,000 multi-sea-winter (MSW)
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FORESTRY, FARMING, AND FRESHWATER HABITAT QUALITY Anthropogenic disturbance has occurred for centuries in New England's forests. Before European settlement, Native Americans used fire to alter wildlife habitat and enhance or maintain the productivity of
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These changes can affect water quality and hence interact with aspects of salmon physiology described in Chapter 2. Estimates of Maine's forest area between 1600 and 1995 were recently compiled and analyzed by Irland (1998)
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This is important because the overall condition of a forest ecosystem (e.g., water quality, and aquatic habitat) is directly affected by when, where, and how trees are cut.
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. Little changed in the forests until hand tools, horses, and log drives were supplanted by chainsaws, bulldozers, skidders, and trucks after World War II.
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It is beyond the scope of this study to quantify the net effect of a century of changes in logging, transportation, milling, and environmental regulation on aquatic ecosystems and Atlantic salmon in Maine. However, by all accounts, acute disturbance from log drives and the toxic effects of point-source discharges have been replaced by the chronic effects of road networks (sedimentation and barriers to fish passage)
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66 ATLANTIC SALMON IN MAINE FIGURE 3-1 Boundaries of major watersheds and counties in Maine. SOURCE: Data from Maine Office of Geographic Information Systems.
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% Forest 1880 to 1995 Androscoggin, Kennebec, and Penobscot watersheds and estuaries Androscoggin 1,218 425 35 850 70 100 Kennebec 2,247 661 29 1,653 74 150 Knox 947 353 37 706 75 100 Oxford 5,382 2,949 55 4,915 91 67 Penobscot 8,796 7,013 80 7,793 89 11 Piscataquis 10,273 8,477 83 9,972 97 18 Sagadahoc 658 250 38 499 76 100 Somerset 10,171 5,800 57 9,668 95 67 Waldo 1,890 538 28 1,537 81 186 Down East watersheds and estuaries Washington 6,653 5,110 77 6,012 90 18 SOURCE: Data from Irland 1998.
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From page 68... ...
. The huge salmon runs in 18881891 may have been related to short-term reductions in logging, log drives, and milling and the corresponding improvements in water quality and habitat conditions through the 1880s.
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Changes in soil erosion and biogeochemical cycling rates, and attendant degradation of water quality, are closely linked to water and energy balance changes. In most forest soils, water moves through the soil surface at a rapid rate (known as infiltration capacity)
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. So while aquatic ecosystems in the Down East watersheds, such as the Narraguagus, Pleasant, Machias, East Machias, and Dennys rivers, may have been somewhat affected by logging and log drives, the Penobscot and Kennebec watersheds were subject to significant and sustained changes.
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(Rivers with no mention of dams or records of salmon abundances are omitted except for the eight DPS rivers.) · Housatonic River -- Salmon disappeared from this river many years ago.
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72 looks dam. Maine.
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There are no records of salmon since 1822. · Merrimack River -- The Merrimack was once one of the best salmon rivers in the United States, but for years after the erection of dams at Lowell, Lawrence, and Manchester no salmon were able to pass them.
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From page 74... ...
· East Machias River -- While in former times Machias River was regarded as the better salmon river, at present and for a long time the East Machias is and has been the better stream. Salmon are now and then taken, and apparently they breed to some extent in Chace's Stream, the outlet of Gardner's Lake.
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From page 75... ...
. On the Machias River in about 1850 -- "where fisheries were rebounding under patient care" -- as well as the Pleasant and Narraguagus rivers, communities were concerned about poaching and other conditions that were detrimental to the alewives, shad, and Atlantic salmon runs.
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There are a number of sites in Maine listed as Superfund sites by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with 13 sites on the National Priorities List, and 58 sites on CERCLIS -- a list of potential and confirmed hazardous waste sites.
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In addition, careful research and monitoring are needed to increase the likelihood that hatchery stocking will help to achieve the goal of recovering wild fish populations. When salmon populations are as low as they are now in many of Maine's streams, hatcheries might offer the only possibility of avoiding extinctions in the short term while longer-term solutions are implemented.
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Hatchery use should be limited to specific situations where its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. In general, the committee favors the discontinuation of hatchery supplementation for wild salmon when the populations are recovered to a specified degree, as discussed below.
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. Current River-Specific Stocking of Fish: A Supportive Breeding Approach River-specific management was instituted in 1991 for six of the DPS rivers (Sheepscot, Narraguagus, Pleasant, Machias, East Machias, and Dennys)
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From page 80... ...
Supportive breeding involves bringing a fraction of the wild population into captivity to increase survival of early-life stages in the protective captive environment, followed by release of the offspring into the natural habitat, where they will mix with wild salmon. Starting in 1992, parr were captured in each of the six rivers and maintained at the Craig Brook hatchery until reaching adulthood (Beland et al.
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From page 81... ...
This section evaluates information from Maine and elsewhere, as well as methods to reduce adverse effects of salmon farming. The problem is intensified because one of the DPS rivers, Dennys, empties into Cobscook Bay, which is one of the most concentrated areas for the Maine salmon aquaculture industry.
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From page 82... ...
History and Status of Net-Pen Salmon Aquaculture in Maine Commercial salmon aquaculture is the latest addition to the long list of items that some have pointed to as threats to wild salmon in Maine. Although the industry is being criticized, it has also been experiencing important internal problems, one of which is historically low prices for the product.
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From page 83... ...
that are desired by the industry, but concern arises from the potential effects that escapes of such genetically foreign fish might have on the wild Atlantic salmon populations of Maine.
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Enterprisesa Washington County 4.0 07/199707/2007 Maine Coast Nordicj Washington County 2.5 12/199712/2007 Maine Coast Nordici continues Genetically engineered salmon are not being produced in Maine. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
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From page 85... ...
gLease includes rainbow trout, Atlantic halibut, abalone, blue mussels, European oysters, American oysters, bay scallops, hard- and soft-shell clams, seaweed, red algae, and fan worms. hLease includes Donaldson trout, Atlantic cod, haddock, and Atlantic halibut.
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From page 86... ...
However, FDA may require that NMFS and FWS keep secret their written biological opinion due to FDA's lead authority and its need to comply with the Trade Secrets Act. Possible Threats to Recovery of Wild Salmon Interactions between farm and wild Atlantic salmon can be classified as ecological and genetic.
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From page 87... ...
Behavioral Interactions Although farm salmon can escape as fry, parr, and smolts into freshwater, most escapes occur in the marine environments as smolts, postsmolts, and adults. Escapees can then move from one habitat to the other and interact directly or indirectly with wild salmon.
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From page 88... ...
. There is little evidence to date of farm salmon directly disrupting spawning by wild salmon (Fleming et al.
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. Genetic Interactions Farm salmon differ genetically from wild salmon, because the broodstock used to propagate the fish destined for growing cages have origins different from the wild fish (Clifford et al.
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· Concentration of cage sites affecting migratory behavior and homing success of wild salmon returning to rivers. · Benthic pollution (heavy metals)
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(2003) exposed Atlantic salmon smolts to pulses of a pH reduction from 6.0 to 6.6 (control)
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From page 92... ...
As the Maine Atlantic Salmon Task Force (1997) pointed out, "Despite careful handling, fish may die from trauma when fisheries biologists capture salmon to collect necessary growth and population data." In most cases, the number of fish killed by research is so small that it is not a serious consideration, but in several Maine rivers there are so few wild salmon that killing even one parr or smolt could affect the population.
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For example, wild Atlantic salmon in the water have unpriced values, i.e. values that are not reflected in market prices.
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Government Organizations and Programs There are six levels of government organizations and programs that influence the human activities related to the survival of Atlantic salmon in Maine: local, tribal, state, federal, regional, and international. 5NGOs reflect some of the values held by people concerned about Atlantic salmon and the environment (NRC 1996a)
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From page 95... ...
Most of these unorganized areas are in the northern inland portion of the state; however, a few unorganized areas exist near the coast in Hancock and Washington counties, the Downeast region of the state.7 Native American Tribal Government Native American Tribes in Maine include the Passamaquoddy Tribe in Washington County, the Penobscot Indian Nation based at Indian Island on the Penobscot River, the Houlton Band of Maliseets, and the Aroostook Band. The Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission (MITSC)
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From page 96... ...
The Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission (MASC) is one of the most important state agencies related to the restoration of Atlantic salmon in TABLE 3-5 State Agencies Related to Salmon Conservation in Maine Human Activities That Impact Salmon Atlantic Salmon Dams Aquaculture Fisheries Forestry Maine State Departments and Agencies 3 5 5 2 Atlantic Salmon Commission X Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Bureau of Resource Management X X Bureau of Fish Warden Service X Department of Marine Resources Bureau of Resource Management X X Bureau of Marine Patrol X X Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Land & Water Quality X X (Salmon Rivers)
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From page 97... ...
Other than commercial aquaculture facilities, the commission has the sole authority to limit or prohibit the taking of Atlantic salmon, may issue licenses for the taking of Atlantic salmon, and may adopt rules establishing the time, place, and manner of Atlantic salmon fishing in all waters of the state. The MASC manages the Atlantic Salmon Conservation Plan (ASCP)
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From page 98... ...
, issues permits for the construction, reconstruction, or the structural alteration of a hydropower project; and enforces state laws concerning unapproved hydropower projects. With respect to salmon aquaculture, the DEP tests water for effluent quality from aquaculture sites, and issues permits as part of the Maine Pollution Discharge Elimination System (MPDES)
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From page 99... ...
enforces all state laws that apply to public utilities, such as hydropower dams. The MPUC shares these responsibilities with the DEP and the LURC, the two agencies that issue permits for the construction, reconstruction, or the structural alteration of a hydropower project; and enforces state laws concerning unapproved hydropower projects.
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From page 100... ...
In 2001, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service opened a field station in Orono, Maine, not far from the University of Maine campus and the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission. This office serves as home base for several federal researchers and managers who work on anadromous fish in Maine, primarily Atlantic salmon.
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From page 101... ...
works with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, its primary state partner related to Atlantic salmon. EPA has funded a $1.9 million cooperative agreement with the Gulf of Maine Council in its efforts to protect and sustain regionally significant Gulf of Maine coastal and marine habitats.
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From page 102... ...
and prohibits the possession of Atlantic salmon from federal waters. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission was formed in 1942 by 15 Atlantic coast states (Maine through Florida, including Pennsylvania)
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These organizations include river and angling conservation groups, Native American, and industry organizations. The Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission lists nearly 50 of these groups and organizations (MASC 2003)
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From page 104... ...
International Paper, a forest products company, provides support to River Watershed Councils and state agencies to identify water quality problems and takes corrective measures when problems are identified. In addition, the company has implemented the Riparian Management Guidelines, originally developed by Champion International, now part of International Paper, for its lands in Down East Maine.
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From page 105... ...
Comanagement The committee has not been able to document the historical development of this complex ecology of governance or the nature and extent of the relationship between that development and the overall decline of wild Atlantic salmon in Maine. It has been unable to determine if the differential pattern of decline that it identified in the DPS rivers as opposed to the other Maine salmon rivers is related to differences in governance processes between the Down East and other areas.
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From page 106... ...
Power sharing is often spread among several levels of government as well as nongovernment constituencies. Comanagement is often recommended for contexts where the ecology of governance is very complex and where the challenges are great and the room for error small, as appears to be the situation with wild Atlantic salmon in Maine.
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From page 107... ...
THREATS TO ATLANTIC SALMON IN MAINE 107 ment must include mechanisms for limiting access, resolving conflicting uses, ensuring habitat protection, and ensuring adequate enforcement. It must also promote legitimacy among resource users, as well as compliance and a willingness to exchange information with biologists monitoring the resource (Pinkerton 1994)
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