Bond Brook Salmon Photos .............Togus Stream Salmon Photos ...........Cobbosseecontee Stream Salmon Photos

Comments on the National Academy of Sciences Interim Genetics Report
as it regards wild Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec River





By Douglas Watts
Friends of the Kennebec Salmon
PO Box 2473, Augusta, ME 04338
February, 2002




The NAS Interim Genetics Report (NAS 2001) contains several errors of fact regarding wild Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec River.

The specific passages are found at:
p. 7: "Today, wild Atlantic salmon populations in the United States are found only in Maine, from the Sheepscot River in the southwest to the Canadian border."

p. 17: "The eight Maine watersheds containing at least remnants of a wild population are (from west to east) Sheepscot, Ducktrap, Penobscot, Narraguagus, Pleasant, Machias, East Machias and Dennys. ... Occasionally, Atlantic salmon have been seen in the Androscoggin, Kennebec, Union and several smaller rivers, but they are probably strays or aquaculture escapees."
These statements are contradicted by the Interim Report itself at pages 22, 24 and 26 (Tables 1, 2, 3) which reference genetic studies using tissue samples taken from wild juvenile and adult Atlantic salmon captured in the Kennebec River drainage in 1994, 1995 and 1996 by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Buckley 1999; King et al. 1999).

These statements are also contradicted by a number of literature sources cited in the "Interim Report" itself, including:

Baum, E.T. 1995. Maine Atlantic Salmon Restoration and Management Plan, 1995-2000. Bangor ME: Maine Atlantic Salmon Authority.

Buckley, D.B. 1999. Summary of Maine Atlantic Salmon Collections for Broodstock and Genetic Analysis 1990-1998. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, East Orland, ME.

King, T.L., W.B. Schill, B.A. Lubinski, M.C. Smith, M.S. Eackles, and R. Coleman. 1999. Microsatellite and Mitochondrial DNA Diversity in Atlantic Salmon with Emphasis on Small Coastal Drainages of the Downeast and Midcoast Regions of Maine. A Report to Region 5, USFWS, Hadley, MA, by USGS-BRD-Leetown Science Center, Kearneysville, WV. March 1999.

All of the above sources provide documentation of the existence of wild Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec River drainage.

Wild Atlantic salmon juvenile collected in Togus Stream, Randolph, Maine, Oct. 1996, by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Photo by Douglas Watts, Friends of the Kennebec Salmon.

Discussion:

I. Evidence of Presence and Persistence


The long-term presence and persistence of wild Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec River drainage is well known to local residents, state and federal fisheries workers, and genetics researchers. The contemporary lower Kennebec wild Atlantic salmon population has been documented and studied by a number of qualified fisheries scientists for over 40 years (Foye et al. 1969; Havey 1968; Beland 1986; Buckley 1999).

Study methods in the Kennebec River drainage have included juvenile population assessments, redd counts, examination of adults caught by anglers, and most recently, microsatellite DNA analysis of wild juveniles and adults captured in the rivers' tributaries (Havey 1968; Foye et al. 1969; Beland 1986; Ed Baum, personal communication, 1997; Buckley 1999; King et al. 1999).

Naturally reproducing populations of wild Atlantic salmon have been documented and studied in the Kennebec River drainage since at least the early 1960s. Foye et al. (1969) wrote:
"Biological studies show that small numbers of young Atlantic salmon are still produced in Togus Stream, a tributary of the Kennebec below Augusta. These young salmon are frequently mistaken for small trout by uninformed anglers. ... Togus Stream enters tidal waters of the Kennebec in Randolph. The only major obstruction on this small stream is a 10-foot wood and concrete dam which impounds Lower Togus Pond in Chelsea. Salmon spawning and nursery areas in this stream below Lower Togus Pond support the only known population of Atlantics in the Kennebec drainage today."

Former Maine inland fisheries biologist Matthew Scott assisted biologist Keith Havey in the 1960s studies of the Togus Stream wild Atlantic salmon population. Mr. Havey is deceased. Scott told Friends of the Kennebec Salmon in 1998 that department biologists were aware of the Togus Stream Atlantic salmon population "long before" detailed investigations of the population were conducted in the 1960s. (Matthew Scott, personal communication, 1998).

Matthew Scott told Friends of the Kennebec Salmon that during his tenure with the department's Augusta regional office from 1962 to 1970 he received calls every spring from workers at the Hudson Paper mill in Augusta who reported that adult Atlantic salmon were congregating directly below mill next to the Edwards Dam. (Matthew Scott, personal communication, 1998).

According to Baum (1997) no juvenile salmon were stocked in the Penobscot River in 1960, 1961, 1963 and 1964. Scott's report of adult salmon in the Kennebec each year from 1962 to 1970 is problematic since it is unlikely all of the salmon sighted (and according to Scott, frequently poached by workers at the Hudson Paper mill) in the Kennebec in those years could have resulted from strays from stocking in the Penobscot. Scott said that during this period, his department made no surveys to locate salmon in the Kennebec River below the dam, except to investigate specific poaching incidents.

In July 1973, journalist, angler and Augusta resident Harry Vanderweide wrote in a Kennebec Journal story: "The Kennebec has long been known to hold a remnant population of salmon, most of which run up Togus Stream to spawn when the water cools in the fall."

In January 1985, Maine State Representative Donald Carter of Winslow, provided written testimony to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service regarding the agency's Environmental Impact State for Restoration of Atlantic Salmon to New England Rivers. Rep. Carter's testimony stated in part:

"My recommendations were based on the fact that the Kennebec River, despite years of high pollution and impeding natural barriers that exist on the Kennebec River, has throughout these intervening years supported a wild strain of Atlantic salmon. These fish have, despite all odds, managed to spawn as they did on day #1 and still do today on Togus Stream and Bond Brook. Both of these streams are immediately below the Edwards Dam in Augusta, Maine."

Rep. Carter also provided the USF&WS with an affidavit from a professional diver, Donald Towle of Smithfield, Maine, who reported seeing numerous adult Atlantic salmon at the base of the Edwards Dam in Augusta prior to 1969 while performing underwater repair work at the dam.

Beland (1986) stated:
"The Kennebec River currently has a small population of Atlantic salmon below the Augusta Dam, composed of hatchery strays from other rivers as well as wild fish originating from tributaries below Augusta. The salmon runs in the Kennebec below Augusta are of uncertain magnitude, but are believed to number less than 200 adults in recent years."

In 1995, the "Four Rivers Working Group" of the Governor's Maine Atlantic Salmon Task Force (Vail et al. 1995) stated:
"There currently exist what appear to be self sustaining populations of Atlantic salmon present in at least two of the three major tributaries below the Augusta dam."

In 1998, Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife regional fisheries biologist William Woodward told Friends of the Kennebec Salmon that he has frequently conducted electrofishing surveys of Bond Brook in Augusta and Manchester since 1978. Woodward said he often found juvenile Atlantic salmon in Bond Brook during his surveys. He said the juveniles were found throughout the brook, including its uppermost headwaters as well as several small tributary streams to the brook. (William Woodward, MDIFW, personal communication, 1998)

A small, impassable dam in lower Bond Brook in Augusta breached and became passable to adult Atlantic salmon in the mid 1970s (Woodward, personal communication, 1998). This breaching and Woodward's surveys indicate that Atlantic salmon re-established a natural population in Bond Brook almost as soon as the brook became accessible to spawning adults. In 1996, Friends of the Kennebec Salmon and Maine Atlantic Salmon Authority staff biologists documented seven Atlantic salmon redds in the short stretch of stream below the small dam site near the mouth of Bond Brook. Edward Baum (personal communication, 1996) stated that he had also observed Atlantic salmon spawning in this area of the brook in the early 1970s.

On Nov. 15, 1999 Baum, the former senior scientist of the Maine Atlantic Salmon Authority, wrote in a newspaper commentary:
"It is a well documented fact that Atlantic salmon have been successfully spawning in several lower tributaries of the Penobscot River since the early 1950s and the lower Kennebec River since the early 1970s (I have personally observed them doing so in both rivers on many occasions). And there is no reason to believe that salmon were not successfully spawning in those areas for many years prior to that, because no one was looking for spawning salmon at the time." (Commentary to Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, Nov. 15, 1999).

Baum's comment is significant since records indicate that when biologists began specifically attempting to locate spawning Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec drainage in the 1960s, they quickly found them. As Baum suggests, temporal gaps in the historic record of Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec are more likely due to a lack of interest by fisheries biologists to locate spawning salmon in the river drainage during the period from 1900 to 1960 -- rather than the absence of any wild Atlantic salmon in the drainage.

Since 1990, wild Atlantic salmon juveniles and/or adults have been documented in three tributaries of the lower Kennebec River and in the river's main-stem.

In 2000, Atlantic salmon spawning was documented at several locations up to 18 miles above the site of the former Edwards Dam in Augusta, which was removed in 1999. (Paul Christman, Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, personal communication, 2000). Christman estimated that less than one third of the accessible spawning habitat in the main-stem was surveyed for redds in the fall of 2000.

In July, 2001 a 2SW adult of wild origin was captured and released by staff of Florida Power & Light at Ticonic Falls in Waterville during fisheries research at the Lockwood dam, approx. 19 miles above the former Edwards Dam in Augusta (Paul Christman, Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, personal communication, 2001).

Newly emerged wild Atlantic salmon fry. Bond Brook, Augusta, Maine. May 1, 1999.
Photo by Douglas Watts, Friends of Kennebec Salmon.

II. Strays


To our knowledge, no adult Atlantic salmon of suspected or confirmed aquaculture origin have ever been documented in the lower Kennebec River. Absent direct evidence from the Kennebec River, this statement in the Interim Report should be deleted.

Numerous reference sources contain documentation of adult Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec River that originated from smolt stockings in other U.S. rivers. Confirmation has been made by scale analysis and physical tags during the period when tags were applied to Atlantic salmon smolts stocked in Maine rivers (Beland 1986). Since no hatchery smolts have ever been stocked in the Kennebec River drainage (Baum 1997), scale analysis of adults is a useful method to determine if an adult salmon found in the Kennebec originated as a hatchery stocked smolt from another U.S. river.

At present, we are not aware of any diagnostic method to determine whether an adult found in the Kennebec River is a wild or fry stocked stray from another river or has originated from natural reproduction in the Kennebec drainage itself.

Given the long documentation of successful natural reproduction of Atlantic salmon Kennebec River drainage, we believe it is prudent to classify a wild adult found in the Kennebec as originating from in-river reproduction, rather than originating as a wild stray from another river. In other Maine salmon rivers with long periods of documented natural reproduction (ie. the eight rivers in the ESA listing), a wild adult Atlantic salmon in the river is presumed to have been produced by natural reproduction that river unless clear evidence suggests the contrary. The same standard should be applied to the Kennebec. Reference to wild "stray" adult Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec River should be eliminated from the Interim Report unless there is conclusive evidence these wild adults did not originate from natural reproduction in the Kennebec River drainage.

The hypothesis in the Interim Report that adult Atlantic salmon observed in the Kennebec River are wholly hatchery-reared strays is not supported by fishway data collected at the Brunswick Dam on the adjacent Androscoggin River. The Androscoggin River and the Kennebec River share a large freshwater tidal estuary, Merrymeeting Bay.

Fishway data collected at the Brunswick Dam shows numerous instances of wild (non smolt-stocked) adult Atlantic salmon passing that fishway in recent decades (USASAC 1998). This data set shows that in 1996, nearly half (n=17) of the Atlantic salmon observed at the Brunswick fishway were classified as wild salmon by scale analysis and 22 were of smolt-stocked origin. The Androscoggin is not stocked with sea-run Atlantic salmon smolts or fry (Baum 1997).

The Brunswick fishway data shows that wild adult Atlantic salmon (ie. of non-smolt stocked origin) frequently enter the Kennebec-Androscoggin estuarial complex. Because there are no fishways on the Kennebec River, no complementary fishway dataset is available for the Kennebec River above Merrymeeting Bay. However, data in Beland (1986) and Buckley (1999) and other sources shows that many Atlantic salmon documented in the Kennebec River near Augusta are not of hatchery (smolt-stocked) origin.

The documented existence of naturally reproducing Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec River drainage predates by more than a decade the first documentation of hatchery-reared "stray" salmon in the river system; and that wild adult salmon and wild juveniles have continued to be documented since the appearance of "stray" hatchery reared salmon in the river.

III. Genetics


As the Interim Report notes on p. 26, the Kennebec River collection studied by King et al. (1999) is the largest Maine collection analyzed (n=185). This collection consisted wholly of wild Atlantic salmon juveniles and adults collected in two tributaries (Bond Brook, Augusta; Togus Stream, Randolph) that have no history of stocking (Baum 1997) and well documented wild Atlantic salmon populations.

The assignment test results shown in the Interim Report on p. 26 indicate the Kennebec River collection had the highest percentage of correct assignments (74 percent) of any Maine river collection except the Penobscot. Of 185 individual wild salmon in the Kennebec collection, only eight individuals (4 percent) were incorrectly assigned to the Penobscot River collection; and only 13 individuals (8 percent) from the Penobscot collection were incorrectly assigned to the Kennebec collection. 

These results contradict the hypothesis that the Kennebec River wild Atlantic salmon are solely "strays" from the Penobscot restoration program or the progeny of these strays. It is known that Penobscot-origin adults enter the Kennebec River and have been documented to spawn in the river's tributaries (Joseph McKeon, USF&WS, personal communication, 1997). Despite this, the highest number of incorrect assignments for the Kennebec collection is to the East Machias collection (n=14), which has never been suggested as a potential source of stray adult salmon to the Kennebec.

The assignment test results suggest the Kennebec collection is no "less" distinct than any other Maine collections studied in King et al. (1999). In fact, the Kennebec collection appears at least or more "distinct" as any other Maine collections listed in the Interim Report, except the Penobscot. Interestingly, the two Maine river populations listed on p. 26 with the largest sample sizes and the highest percentage of correct genetic assignments to collection (Penobscot and Kennebec) are also the only two populations not included in the Gulf of Maine DPS of wild Atlantic Salmon.

A March 24, 1998 memo from Dr. Timothy King to Mr. Jerry Marancik of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in East Orland, Maine contained this reference to King's analysis of the Kennebec collection:
"Lower Kennebec 1995 and 1996 samples -- Analysis of the lower Kennebec River samples has been completed. The results suggest that the three Bond Brook samples appear to be very similar to each other (ie. cluster closely together), yet are divergent from other collections in Maine. Even if hatchery strays founded this population (as suggested by some), it appears to be a stable reproducing population that is somewhat divergent from other collections including Togus Stream. Two of the three Togus Stream samples are very similar to each other and somewhat divergent. The third collection is divergent from all Maine collections. We are still trying to discern why the one population appears so different from the rest."

Regarding the Interim Report's discussion of data quality regarding genetic analyses, the Kennebec collection appears to be one of the more robust examined in King (1999) for the following reasons:

a) Sample size (n=185) is larger than most of the other Maine collections.
b) Samples were taken from two geographically separate tributaries (Bond Brook, Augusta; Togus Stream, Randolph), located nearly six miles from each other.
c) Samples were obtained from multiple year classes of Atlantic salmon from both tributaries during each of the three years they were surveyed (1994, 1995, 1996). Spawning adults were also sampled in both tributaries.
d) On Bond Brook, juveniles in each sampling year were collected from two separate sections of the brook (over 1 mile apart) to reduce the chance of familial sampling. Juveniles of several year classes were collected from all sites surveyed. Difficult access conditions prevented the type of broad spatial sampling of Togus Stream as that conducted on Bond Brook.
e) Neither of the sampled Kennebec River tributaries have been subjected to any known stocking of Atlantic salmon.

IV. Implications of Straying


As the Interim Report notes, straying is a natural attribute of adult Atlantic salmon and is believed to have beneficial consequences under certain circumstances. Baum (1997) notes that tagged adult Atlantic salmon in Maine have been observed to "stray" to an adjacent river but then return to their river of origin prior to spawning. Given that many of the documented "stray" salmon in the Kennebec were caught by anglers (Beland 1986) it is not known what number of these "strays" actually remained in the Kennebec to spawn and how many ultimately returned to their river of origin. Since many of the "strays" documented in Beland (1986) were kept by anglers, it is certain that these adult salmon did not spawn in the Kennebec River and contribute to the documented wild juvenile populations in the drainage during that period.

In their Status Review (1999), USF&WS and NMFS stated:
"The occurence of nonindigenous Atlantic salmon in a stream does not necessarily represent a breakdown of reproductive isolation unless these fish spawn successfully, their progeny survive to spawn, and their presence degrades the survival and fitness of native stocks. In fact, some genetic exchange between populations helps to maintain genetic fitness by countering genetic drift (Waples 1991)."
We are aware of no analysis or data which shows the co-mingling of wild and "stray" adult salmon in the lower Kennebec River drainage has degraded the survival and fitness of naturally reproducing Atlantic salmon in the drainage. As Dr. King noted in his 1998 memo regarding Bond Brook, "Even if hatchery strays founded this population (as suggested by some), it appears to be a stable reproducing population that is somewhat divergent from other collections including Togus Stream." Nor are we aware of any evidence or data which shows that either the Bond Brook or Togus Stream salmon populations were founded by "hatchery strays." All of the material we have gathered to date indicates this hypothesis is purely speculative and based simply on the documentation of "hatchery strays" in the river system.

We note that these "strays" documented in the Kennebec are believed to have originated from within the Gulf of Maine DPS (ie. the Penobscot); and the Interim Report concluded that it did not believe the past use of Penobscot-origin juveniles in the eight ESA listed rivers unduly compromised the integrity of the extant populations in these rivers.

Under these circumstances, we do not believe that the mere presence of non-indigenous adult salmon in the Kennebec River drainage provides sufficient evidence to conclude these "strays" have somehow eliminated or severely compromised the integrity or character of the naturally reproducing Atlantic salmon stock that has been documented to exist in the river system since at least the early 1960s.

The Interim Report discusses the potential consequences resulting from the introduction of "hatchery" salmon to extant naturally reproducing populations in Maine. At p. 25 the report references Neilsen et al. which the report authors state, "show that ancestral genotypes can persist despite years' of extensive stocking."

This discussion is significant to an inquiry regarding the relation of the contemporary lower Kennebec River Atlantic salmon population to the Gulf of Maine DPS. Based on stocking records in Baum (1997), the Kennebec River has been subjected to an extremely low level of stocking since 1870 -- far less than most of other rivers in the Gulf of Maine DPS.

Records indicate the Kennebec received one stocking of 87,460 Penobscot-origin fry in 1881. Between 1989 and 1993, approx. 2,167 captive broodstock reared entirely in freshwater at the Green Lake National Fish Hatchery were released in the lower Kennebec. According to Baum (1997) these are the only known introductions of sea-run Atlantic salmon into the Kennebec River drainage in the rivers' history.

V. Extirpation


USFWS and NMFS (1999) define "extirpation" as follows:
"The BRT used the documented absence of wild Atlantic salmon from natal habitat for at least two generations (12 years) as the criterion for the total loss of a native population. We chose this conservative definition because the complex life history of Atlantic salmon often includes a total of six year classes (three freshwater and three marine) extant in the population at any one time. This life history adaptation is an important buffer against ecological disasters, both natural and human induced. We chose two generations to increase the certainty that failure to detect the presence of fish was a result of absence, not low numbers of fish and limited effort."
Our extensive review of historic documents relating to the Kennebec River has found no period in which wild Atlantic salmon were documented to be completely absent from the river drainage for two generations or 12 years.

Ed Baum qualified his personal observations of Atlantic salmon spawning in the lower Kennebec River in the early 1970s by stating, " ... there is no reason to believe that salmon were not successfully spawning in those areas for many years prior to that, because no one was looking for spawning salmon at the time."

We agree with Baum and USF&WS and NMFS that it is inappropriate to conclude a rivers' indigenous Atlantic salmon population has been completely extirpated solely on the basis of fisheries workers' failure to conduct population assessments for Atlantic salmon in the river system for years or decades. On the Kennebec, it is clear that when fisheries biologists began conducting population assessments for Atlantic salmon in the early 1960s, they immediately located some naturally reproducing Atlantic salmon in the drainage.

VI. Relation and Significance of the Kennebec River
to the Gulf of Maine Distinct Population Segment of Wild Atlantic Salmon.


USFWS and NMFS (1999) describe the Gulf of Maine DPS as follows:
"The Gulf of Maine DPS includes all coastal watersheds with native populations of Atlantic salmon north of and including tributaries of the lower Kennebec River (below Edwards Dam) to the mouth of the St. Croix River at the US-Canada border. "
By definition, the Kennebec River drainage is part of the Gulf of Maine DPS. Since the Edwards Dam was completely removed from the river in 1999, the delineation of the DPS to the base of the Edwards dam no longer has any practical meaning, since wild Atlantic salmon have now been documented as far as Ticonic Falls in Waterville, 19 miles above the former Edwards Dam site.

Using the NMFS/USF&WS (1999) definition of extirpation, it appears the only grounds for excluding the contemporary Kennebec River wild salmon population from the Gulf of Maine DPS would be if clear evidence exists to show the river's native salmon population was extirpated, ie. documented to be completely absent for at least two generations. Since naturally reproducing salmon still exist in the Kennebec, it appears one would have to show that the existing population is wholly a product of repopulation by "stray" salmon from other rivers. While some have suggested this hypothesis, we have yet to see empirical evidence by any party showing that this actually occured.

VII. No conclusive evidence has been presented in the Interim Report or elsewhere to support exclusion of the Kennebec River wild Atlantic salmon from the Gulf of Maine DPS of wild Atlantic salmon.

In 1999 and 2000, without any explanation, evidence or discussion, the USF&WS and NMFS excluded the documented naturally reproducing populations of Atlantic salmon in the lower Kennebec River in the Gulf of Maine DPS (NMFS 2000). This exclusion occured although the river drainage is included in the geographic bounds of the DPS and USF&WS field staff have documented and collected genetic samples from nearly 200 wild Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec River drainage in 1994, 1995 and 1996.

As stated on page 45 of the Interim Report, one task of the NAS Committee is to evaluate the "... nature and distinctness of salmon populations in Maine rivers" and ".. address the genetic makeup of wild salmon populations in Maine and its possible relationship to recovery activities."

As part of this task, the Interim Report has examined the scientific basis for the Services' finding that a Gulf of Maine DPS of wild Atlantic salmon exists. The Interim Report provides no analysis of the evidentiary basis for the Services' exclusion of wild Kennebec River salmon from the Gulf of Maine DPS, except to assert without citation or supporting evidence that wild Atlantic salmon do not exist in the Kennebec River drainage.

For 50 years after the Edwards (Augusta) dam was constructed at the Kennebec's head of tide, significant commercial catches of Atlantic salmon were still recorded in the lower river (Goode 1887). Reliable passage above the Kennebec's head of tide for Atlantic salmon was not made available until the Edwards Dam was removed from the river in 1999.

Despite this lack of passage and extremely poor water quality in the lower river during much of the 20th century, naturally reproducing populations of Atlantic salmon have persisted in accessible portions of the lower river drainage from the onset of contemporary study in the early 1960s (Havey 1968; Foye et al. 1969; Beland 1986). Based on stocking records for Maine rivers prior to 1970, it is very unlikely, or at least extremely speculative, that the remnant salmon stock documented in the lower Kennebec River prior to 1960-1970 was wholly founded by "hatchery" strays. If this same line of reasoning were applied to the contemporary lower Penobscot River and Bay wild salmon populations (ie. Cove Brook, South Branch Marsh River, Ducktrap River), one would have to conclude that these populations do not exist either, since it is at least "possible" these rivers' indigenous populations were wholly replaced by "hatchery" fish arising from long periods of stocking in the Penobscot River system.

VIII. Significance of the Kennebec River and its remaining wild Atlantic salmon.


Except for the Penobscot, the Kennebec River is the largest watershed in Maine and the largest watershed in the Gulf of Maine DPS. It historically produced a similar number of Atlantic salmon as the Penobscot (Kendall 1935; Atkins 1869) and far more Atlantic salmon than any other river system in the Gulf of Maine DPS except the Penobscot.

The durability of the Kennebec Atlantic salmon stock is illustrated by the fact that even 50 years after the construction of the impassable dam in 1837 at the rivers' head of tide, a remnant population still persisted in the rivers' lower reaches sufficient to provide an incidental commercial catch of 100-500 fish annually (Goode 1887).

The severe water pollution and lack of migratory fish access in the Kennebec River drainage during the 20th century are well documented. Extensive fish kills due to severe pollution in the Kennebec River and estuary in the 1960s (Foye et al. 1969) were instrumental in creating public pressure for water quality improvements in the Kennebec and across Maine.

One of the most striking aspects of the historic record regarding Kennebec River Atlantic salmon is the clear evidence that a remnant Atlantic salmon population persisted in the lower river during the 1960s (and by inference, the 1950s) -- a period when the river was considered an "open sewer." Most amazing, according to Matthew Scott, the small wild Atlantic salmon population in Togus Stream persisted despite a heavy load of raw sewage into the stream from the Togus Veterans Administration hospital. Scott said that during his period of investigationin the 1960s, he observed that juvenile wild salmon parr in Togus Stream would congregate on the side of the stream away from the plume of sewage, in relatively cleaner water.

Regardless of any academic (and essentially unanswerable questions) about the ultimate origin of the contemporary wild Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec River, it is indisputable that these fish have managed to survive and persist despite extremely harsh and unforgiving environmental conditions over many decades. The ultimate charge of the NAS committee and the joint federal-state-public efforts for this species is to develop effective methods by which Atlantic salmon populations can survive and be restored to health in their natal homes in the United States. By this mandate alone, it is critical that the NAS committee call for the few remaining wild salmon in the Kennebec River to be afforded the highest level of protection that can be provided.

Friends of the Kennebec Salmon appreciates the work of the NAS committee and its consideration of the above information.

Works Cited:


Atkins, C.G. 1869. Reports of the Commissioners of Fisheries of the State of Maine for the Years 1867 and 1868. State Printing Office. Augusta, Maine.

Atkins, C.G, 1867 in 12th Annual Report of the Secretary of the Maine Board of Agriculture. State Printing Office. Augusta, Maine.

Baum, E.T. 1997. Maine Atlantic Salmon: A National Treasure. Atlantic Salmon Unlimited. Hermon, Maine.

Beland K. F. 1986. Atlantic Salmon Management in the Kennebec River: A Status Report and Interim Management Plan. Maine Sea-Run Atlantic Salmon Commission. Bangor, Maine.

Buckley, D.B. 1999. Summary of Maine Atlantic Salmon Collections for Broodstock and Genetic Analyses 1990-1997. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. East Orland, Maine.

Committee on Maine Atlantic Salmon, National Research Council. 2001. Interim Report from the Committee on Atlantic Salmon in Maine: Genetic Status of Atlantic Salmon in Maine. National Academy Press. Washington, D.C.

Cutting, R.E. 1963. Penobscot River Salmon Restoration. Maine Sea-Run Atlantic Salmon Commission. Bangor, Maine.

Foye, R. et al. 1969. Fish Management in the Kennebec River. Maine Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife. Augusta, Maine.

Goode, G.B. 1887. The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States. Section V. History and Methods of the Fisheries. U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington, D.C.

Havey, K.A. 1968. A Study of Standing Crops of Juvenile Salmon and their Competitors in a Salmon Spawning and Nursery Stream. Job Completion Report No. 1, Proj. F-14-R-9. Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Game. Augusta, Maine.

Kendall, W.C. 1935. The Fishes of New England. The Salmon Family. Part Two. The Salmons. Boston Society of Natural History. Boston, Mass.

King, T.L., W.B. Schill, B.A. Lubinski, M.C. Smith, M.S. Eackles, and R. Coleman. 1999. Microsatellite and Mitochondrial DNA Diversity in Atlantic Salmon with Emphasis on Small Coastal Drainages of the Downeast and Midcoast Regions of Maine. A Report to Region 5, USFWS, Hadley, MA, by USGS-BRD-Leetown Science Center, Kearneysville, WV. March 1999.

National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 1999. Status Review of Anadromous Atlantic Salmon in the United States. Washington, D.C.

U.S. Atlantic Salmon Assessment Committee. 1999. Report No. 11 - 1998 Activities. Gloucester, Mass.

Vail, W. J. et al. 1995. Four Rivers Working Group. Governor's Maine Atlantic Salmon Task Force. Augusta, Maine.



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