Atlantic salmon continues its return to Penobscot River
pressherald.com/2019/10/09/atlantic-salmon-continues-its-return-to-penobscot-river/
By Associated PressOctober 10, 2019
BANGOR — After making a return in June for the first time since 2011, the Atlantic salmon is still showing up in the Penobscot River.
The Bangor Daily News reports the fish are showing up at the Milford Dam fish trap, where they’re being counted by Maine Department of Marine Resources staffers.
Jason Valliere, a marine resources scientist for the agency, says the biggest salmon return in the past eight years continues to grow, with a total estimated trap return of 1,170.
The salmon’s return to the river generates a lot of attention from conservationists because the fish are considered endangered by the federal government.
Since a historic low of 255 salmon recorded in 2014, an average of 701 fish have returned to the Penobscot each year before this year’s upward trend.
This is great news. When I was a teen you'd always hear about someone off of Montauk or Orient who caught a salmon while Mackerel Jigging each spring, fish that were probably CT River fish. After years of stocking that river, they've finally given up as returns were usually less than 10.
Each year the first salmon caught by fly fisherman in the Penobscot was shipped down to Washington DC to grace the table of the President. The last time this happened George H.W. Bush was the occupant of the White House. The Amazon blurb on the Book "The President's Salmon":
The salmon pools of Maine achieved legendary status among anglers and since 1912, it was tradition to present the first salmon caught in the Penobscot River each spring to the U.S. President. The last salmon presented was in 1992, to George W. Bush. That year, the Penobscot accounted for more than 70 percent of the salmon returns on the entire Eastern seaboard, yet that was only 2 percent of the river's historic populations. Due to commercial over harvesting, damming, and environmental degradation of the fish's home waters, Atlantic salmon populations had been decimated.
The salmon is said to be as old as time and to know all the past and future. Twenty-two thousand years ago, someone carved a life-sized image of Atlantic salmon in the floor of a cave in southern France. Salmon were painted on rocks in Norway and Sweden. The Celts mythologized the salmon as holder of all mysterious knowledge. The President's Salmon presents a rich cultural and biological history of the Atlantic salmon and the salmon fishery, primarily revolving around the Penobscot River, the last bastion for the salmon in America and a key battleground site for the preservation of the species.
By Associated PressOctober 10, 2019
BANGOR — After making a return in June for the first time since 2011, the Atlantic salmon is still showing up in the Penobscot River.
The Bangor Daily News reports the fish are showing up at the Milford Dam fish trap, where they’re being counted by Maine Department of Marine Resources staffers.
Jason Valliere, a marine resources scientist for the agency, says the biggest salmon return in the past eight years continues to grow, with a total estimated trap return of 1,170.
The salmon’s return to the river generates a lot of attention from conservationists because the fish are considered endangered by the federal government.
Since a historic low of 255 salmon recorded in 2014, an average of 701 fish have returned to the Penobscot each year before this year’s upward trend.
This is great news. When I was a teen you'd always hear about someone off of Montauk or Orient who caught a salmon while Mackerel Jigging each spring, fish that were probably CT River fish. After years of stocking that river, they've finally given up as returns were usually less than 10.
Each year the first salmon caught by fly fisherman in the Penobscot was shipped down to Washington DC to grace the table of the President. The last time this happened George H.W. Bush was the occupant of the White House. The Amazon blurb on the Book "The President's Salmon":
The salmon pools of Maine achieved legendary status among anglers and since 1912, it was tradition to present the first salmon caught in the Penobscot River each spring to the U.S. President. The last salmon presented was in 1992, to George W. Bush. That year, the Penobscot accounted for more than 70 percent of the salmon returns on the entire Eastern seaboard, yet that was only 2 percent of the river's historic populations. Due to commercial over harvesting, damming, and environmental degradation of the fish's home waters, Atlantic salmon populations had been decimated.
The salmon is said to be as old as time and to know all the past and future. Twenty-two thousand years ago, someone carved a life-sized image of Atlantic salmon in the floor of a cave in southern France. Salmon were painted on rocks in Norway and Sweden. The Celts mythologized the salmon as holder of all mysterious knowledge. The President's Salmon presents a rich cultural and biological history of the Atlantic salmon and the salmon fishery, primarily revolving around the Penobscot River, the last bastion for the salmon in America and a key battleground site for the preservation of the species.
