Aquaculture Operation Support Novel Approach Wild Atlantic Salmon Restoration

[CLAMFARMER]

I’m on a DMR News Mailing list. I think anyone can get on the list.

DMR News

"Aquaculture Operation to Support Novel Approach to Wild Atlantic Salmon Restoration"

"Augusta – The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) will employ a novel approach to rearing Atlantic salmon for restoring native populations on the East Branch of the Penobscot.

The project, funded through a NOAA Section 6 Species Recovery Grant totaling $1,075,000, will involve a partnership between DMR, Cooke Aquaculture USA, US Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries, and the Penobscot Indian Nation to grow juvenile Atlantic salmon to adult size in aquaculture pens located near Cutler Maine. The adult salmon will then be released into the East Branch of the Penobscot to spawn, a river with large amounts of high-quality salmon habitat.   

Smolts raised from native broodstock by the US Fish and Wildlife Service at the Green Lake National Fish Hatchery in Ellsworth, Maine, and smolts captured in the wild by rotary screw traps will be used to stock the marine net pens in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Smolts will include only those from Penobscot River origin to ensure the genetic integrity of salmon released into the river.

Plans call for increasing the number of smolts captured in the wild from the East Branch to be used to supply juveniles that will be grown out in the net pens. While hatchery spawned fish help ensure an adequate supply of fish for recovery goals, those spawned in the natural environment are more robust due to the impact of natural selection which results in fish that are better suited to survival in the wild. 

The smolts will be placed in net pens under a limited-purpose aquaculture lease in Cutler, Maine where they will be fed and managed in cooperation with Cooke Aquaculture USA for 16 to 30 months, during which time they will grow to mature adults. The DMR will hold the lease on the pens while Cooke will supply the pens and feed for the salmon as they grow.

“We are committed to be part of this wild Atlantic salmon enhancement project in Maine. Cooke Aquaculture has the experience working with Atlantic salmon in their natural environment based on proven aquaculture and fish-health science. Working with the Penobscot Nation and government partners, together we will make this restoration program a success by seeing the fish return to their native waters,” said Glenn Cooke, CEO, Cooke Aquaculture USA.

Approximately 5,000 adult fish will be transported from the net pens to target tributaries and the mainstem of the East Branch of the Penobscot River in the fall of 2021 or 2022 where they will find suitable habitat to naturally spawn.  This will result in more spawning adults than have been present in the Penobscot River for decades.

While net pens are not new in Maine for cultivating Atlantic salmon, using them to cultivate salmon for conservation purposes at this scale is new in Maine and showing promise in a Bay of Fundy partnership between Cooke and Canadian provincial and federal governments, First Nations and academia.

“The Penobscot Indian Nation has inhabited the Penobscot River drainage since time immemorial.  The deep cultural, spiritual and historical connections between the Tribe and the Atlantic salmon of the Penobscot River go back thousands of years,” said Dan McCaw, Fisheries Program Manager for the Penobscot Nation. “The Penobscot Nation is hopeful that this new program can help to restore this iconic species to its ancestral homeland and applauds the collaborative nature of this multi-stakeholder endeavor.”

As populations expand, the goal is to build healthy wild populations of Atlantic Salmon on the East Branch, including the potential for downlisting. “The estimated 5,000 adults produced by this effort could result in 20 times more eggs in the gravel in the Penobscot River basin compared to existing stocking and natural reproduction,” said Sean Ledwin, Director of DMR’s Searun Fisheries and Habitat Division.

The program will involve surveys of redds in spawning areas to assess spawning success of released fish. Released fish will also be tracked using Passive integrated transponders (PIT tags) and radio telemetry. Electrofishing surveys and use of rotary screw traps, along with genetic analysis, will be used to assess the abundance of offspring from this effort. 

The program will also include a public outreach effort undertaken by the department and other program partners that will provide information on salmon and other sea-run species, and the impact of protecting ecosystems on which they rely."

 

[CLAMFARMER]

I have often wondered why there isn’t some sort of requirement to enhance wild atlantic salmon stocks as part of the permitting process for growing farmed salmon in Maine waters. I understand there is not a simple answer. Maybe this will be a start of something that will actually be effective.

[taxid]

Interesting. So the wild smolts captured for the net pens that end up being broodstock back in the river will easily train on the fish pellets? I could see that as being a potential problem but then perhaps not?

Thanks for sharing. Cool beans!

[seamonkey84]

This is exactly what I said should happen!

[TightLinesMaine]

Love this idea and could very well be a game changer if the reared wild smolts (which will grow to adults) can successfully spawn after being trucked and transplanted.

This is exactly what I said should happen!

Kudos, thought of your suggestion while i was reading this lol.  Pretty similar to your suggestion if not exact.  I remember commenting that the cost could be a drawback but it looks like they found some loose change in the couch cushions to make it happen.

[thedirtydirtyfisherman]

I like the idea but part of me thinks it could be a too late situation.  There has been a lot of effort put into Atlantic Salmon Restoration efforts over the years, but the returns havent been fruitful.  With climate change warming our waters, im skeptical of its success.

[deerhunter]

for it to work in the future . there is a few more dams that need to go and stop the slaughter at sea.

[taxid]

I like the idea but part of me thinks it could be a too late situation.  There has been a lot of effort put into Atlantic Salmon Restoration efforts over the years, but the returns havent been fruitful.  With climate change warming our waters, im skeptical of its success.

Good points however it appears here is a lot more to salmon than just rearing them in a hatchery, dumping them into a river, and then hoping for the best which is what has happened in the past. They seem to be more sensitive than other salmonid species and more complex.

Here in Michigan the best success has been rearing them the same water they will go into (water supply comes from a nearby river directly into a hatchery), and when it's time to plant the fish they just pull a drain to release the into the river. No stress from handling and they are already imprinted to the river water.

https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79135_79218_79614_82587-490665--,00.html

[thedirtydirtyfisherman]

Good points however there is a lot more to salmon than just rearing them in a hatchery, dumping them into a river and then hoping for the best which is what has happened in the past. They are more sensitive than other salmonid species and more complex.

very true statement, I do have a lot of faith in the hatchery to produce the salmon, just concerned about the environment that the salmon will find themselves in and their ability to survive that in large numbers.

[seamonkey84]

Now if they just mix some wild Atlantic genetics in with some of the landlocked strains that would had historically interbred with some migrating sea run fish.

[jigfrig]

"Augusta – The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) will employ a novel approach to rearing Atlantic salmon for restoring native populations on the East Branch of the Penobscot."

Garbage, nothing novel here.  30 years ago there was an effort by ASM to do the exact project at no cost, plus they proposed to rear and release(stock) adult Penobscot strain in the lower river in an effort to keep the Salmon fishing alive.  It was totally reject by all, Feds, DMR, IFW.
ASM also proposed rearing fish for inland stocking for IFW, for 1/3 the cost of IFW hatchery production,  that was turned down also.
The aquaculture operations in this state had numerous hatcheries that were producing millions of fish per year, just one of those hatcheries had production capability that was larger than the entire IFW operations.  Even back then, growing fish in slit trenches was considered antiquated.

 

[woodchip1]

Put a few pens in Sebago and maybe some of you guys will stop whining and crying.

[TightLinesMaine]

"Augusta – The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) will employ a novel approach to rearing Atlantic salmon for restoring native populations on the East Branch of the Penobscot."

Garbage, nothing novel here.  30 years ago there was an effort by ASM to do the exact project at no cost, plus they proposed to rear and release(stock) adult Penobscot strain in the lower river in an effort to keep the Salmon fishing alive.  It was totally reject by all, Feds, DMR, IFW.
ASM also proposed rearing fish for inland stocking for IFW, for 1/3 the cost of IFW hatchery production,  that was turned down also.
The aquaculture operations in this state had numerous hatcheries that were producing millions of fish per year, just one of those hatcheries had production capability that was larger than the entire IFW operations.  Even back then, growing fish in slit trenches was considered antiquated.

Highly doubt it was the "exact project", provide some evidence maybe?

Put a few pens in Sebago and maybe some of you guys will stop whining and crying.

What?

[TightLinesMaine]

I like the idea but part of me thinks it could be a too late situation.  There has been a lot of effort put into Atlantic Salmon Restoration efforts over the years, but the returns havent been fruitful.  With climate change warming our waters, im skeptical of its success.

climate change is a chinese hoax though?! 

but seriously, you may be right that it's "too late" or it may not be as successful as they intend.  However, Atlantic Salmon runs have been trending upward for the last couple of years in Penobscot (and the Kennebec).  Penobscot just hit the 1,000 mark for returns this year since the first time in almost a decade.  I think it's worth it to try something new, maybe it's their last-ditch effort.

[CLAMFARMER]

"Augusta – The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) will employ a novel approach to rearing Atlantic salmon for restoring native populations on the East Branch of the Penobscot."

Garbage, nothing novel here.  30 years ago there was an effort by ASM to do the exact project at no cost, plus they proposed to rear and release(stock) adult Penobscot strain in the lower river in an effort to keep the Salmon fishing alive.  It was totally reject by all, Feds, DMR, IFW.
ASM also proposed rearing fish for inland stocking for IFW, for 1/3 the cost of IFW hatchery production,  that was turned down also.
The aquaculture operations in this state had numerous hatcheries that were producing millions of fish per year, just one of those hatcheries had production capability that was larger than the entire IFW operations.  Even back then, growing fish in slit trenches was considered antiquated.

The science has come a LONG way in 30 years. These are wild strain fish with the specific river’s genetic stock unmanipulated for mass production we are taking about now too. These folks working together are trying to create a better situation for our waters and Atlantic Salmon in our state. I doubt climate change is going to be helpful, but AT LEAST these groups are not sitting around whining and beeching and doing nothing. Science is based on trial, error, learning and progressing, NOT nay-saying.

Fishing is like that too, jigfrig! Do catch more fish than you did 30 years ago? How did you learn?