FFC Blog Roll

A few weeks ago while visiting my local fly shop I came upon a book about the history of the Bogdan reels. These high end fly fishing reels are synonymous with Atlantic salmon fishing. Needless to say a book about Atlantic salmon reels had lots of old photos of salmon. These weren't the days of catch and release but the days of plenty when it was catch and eat. The fish were large, very large, like 20 - 30 pounds of Atlantic salmon hanging by their tails from a pole. And of course this was all 20 or more years ago.

For the first time in almost a decade the state of Maine will allow springtime Atlantic salmon fishing on the Penobscot River. For the past two years they have allowed fall fishing for salmon with only some low interest from anglers the first year and even less in the second year no doubt to the dismal number of fish caught during the first year. An estimated 240 anglers landed 1 salmon in the first year and in the second year fewer anglers managed to land a reported 2 salmon. Of course this is purely catch and release fishing.

Despite protests, Maine's Salmon Commission has decided that, regardless of not having the 7,000 fish returning to the Penobscot that has been targeted as a benchmark to resume fishing, the 900 and some fish that did return last spring is sufficient enough to allow limited catch and release fishing. The plan is to allow catch and release fishing of up to 50 salmon. The season would close once 50 salmon had been caught. With less than 15% of the target number of salmon returning to the Penobscot why would any organization, charged with looking after the will being of the salmon, allow the fishery to open? Even for catch and release. Catch and release fishing is a terrific concept but it should be expected that there will be some amount of fish mortality.

So with a run of salmon way below its target population, possibly on the verge of being listed as endangered, is allowing a spring fishing season or any fishing for salmon a good idea? Well, maybe a good idea if you're looking to raise revenue.

New Hampshire has Atlantic salmon fishing in the Merrimack River. While New Hampshire Fish and Game tries to promote catch and release you can kill salmon if you choose. Is this because New Hampshire's Merrimack River has an abundant run of Atlantics? No. In fact the Merrimack River has virtually no run of Atlantic salmon at all. But New Hampshire has some creative thinkers and if you can't get salmon to swim up river to you (maybe the dams block them?!) then just raise them in a hatchery and truck them to the river.

Now this is a limited stocking program with an estimated 1,100 salmon expected to be released for the 2008 season (which is spring through fall). These 1,100 salmon are brood stock salmon that are no longer required for the salmon restoration program run in New Hampshire.

The federal hatchery in Nashua raises and releases thousands of salmon smolts each spring into streams that drain into the Merrimack River with the thought that somehow these little guys will navigate over the myriad of dams and eventually make their way to the ocean and in a few years return back up the river. With time natural reproduction will kick in and the program will have been successful. Seems like a logical approach except for those dams.

In the interest of the salmon it would seem logical that Maine would continue to prohibit salmon fishing until the salmon population is closer to the target number of 7,000 returning fish. If the fish never make the benchmark number at least a good effort was made to help them survive. But to allow fishing and then the fish don't survive shame on the Maine Salmon Commission for putting short term dollars over long term restoration and revenue.

In the interest of anglers, is it worth continuing to spend thousands of dollars each year planting salmon into a habitat that isn't capable of supporting natural reproduction? If you're going to stock salmon why not raise them to a catchable size and then stock them on a put and take plan like trout, rather than spend money raising and stocking salmon that don't stand a chance of survival and cannot be legally fished for? Or just stop raising salmon altogether until the habitat conditions improve (i.e. remove the dams) and focus on saving the natural reproducing brook trout that exist in New Hampshire.