August 26, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
For the last 20 years, NOAA Fisheries and its partners have strived to restore endangered Atlantic salmon to Maine’s Penobscot River, a NOAA Habitat Focus Area. The Penobscot River watershed, and several other waterways in Maine, support the last remaining wild Atlantic salmon in the United States. Through the removal of dams and other barriers, access to high-quality habitat in the Penobscot River is improving.
Now, our long-term partners—the Atlantic Salmon Federation and the Penobscot Nation—received more than $10.5 million dollars in funding from NOAA under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. They are working to:
- Connect Atlantic salmon and other sea-run fish with the cold, clean streams and lakes off of the mainstem Penobscot River, where juvenile fish can thrive
- Revive the once vital human connections to the river
A Loss of Fisheries and Culture
The Penobscot River once brought millions of migratory fish from the Gulf of Maine to distant spawning grounds in the lakes and small streams of the Appalachian Mountains. “The watershed once saw up to 100,000 Atlantic salmon, tens of millions of river herring, and 3 to 5 million American shad,” says Matthew Bernier, a NOAA engineer who reviews project designs for Penobscot restoration efforts.
It was also the lifeline of the Penobscot people who have lived alongside the river for thousands of years. “The river was our highway and our food source,” says Chuck Loring, Jr., Director of Natural Resources for the Penobscot Nation. “Fish was a third of our diet and we also used alewife [a type of river herring] to fertilize our gardens.”
Two hundred years ago, a wave of industrialization permanently altered the Penobscot watershed. More than 100 dams were built and pollution entered the water, causing fish populations to crash. The Penobscot Nation last harvested Atlantic salmon in 1988 for ceremonial purposes.
“We have to be careful about eating other types of fish because of the level of contamination,” says Loring. “Now we eat more processed food and there is a high occurrence of diabetes in the community.” Loss of ancestral traditions has had major psychological effects on the Nation as well. “I think in losing pieces of our culture, we’ve also lost pieces of ourselves,” says Loring.
Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries