May 27, 2012 โ Fans of the federally endangered Atlantic salmon are anxiously watching this year's spring run, hoping the numbers of returning fish mirror last year's.
In the next three weeks, it will be clear whether last year was a fluke or the start of a trend. While the numbers of adult salmon counted so far at the Veazie Dam in Bangor, the state's busiest fish-counting station for salmon, are up from last year, the final count is not yet in.
"It is sort of a guessing game," said Oliver Cox, director of the Sea-Run Habitat and Fisheries Division at Maine's Department of Marine Resources.
Overall, salmon runs doubled last year, with 3,097 showing up at counting stations in Maine rivers, the eighth-biggest run since counting started in 1978 and the highest since 1986. The total for the U.S. Atlantic Coast reached 4,167, up 152 percent.
Restoration efforts date back 150 years. Despite millions of private and public dollars spent on the effort, overall results have been dismal.
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald.