Feds Designate Protected Habitat to Restore Atlantic Salmon

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Colin Durrant, CLF Director of Communications
617.850.1722

Brunswick, ME (September 2, 2008) – Federal wildlife agencies have proposed protected status for river and stream habitat throughout Maine that are critical to the restoration of the endangered Gulf of Maine wild Atlantic salmon. In addition to the habitat designation sought by environmental and fishing groups, the federal agencies have proposed expanding the protected status to Atlantic salmon in three additional rivers, the Androscoggin, the Kennebec and the Penobscot.

Habitat loss and degradation are leading contributors to the Atlantic salmon’s continuing extinction risk. As the result of a 2007 settlement with the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), federal officials were under an August 30 deadline to filed proposed critical habitat designation for Atlantic salmon in eight Downeast rivers that were listed as endangered in 2000 under the Endangered Species Act – the Dennys, East Machias, Machias, Pleasant, Narraguagus, Ducktrap, and Sheepscot Rivers and Cove Brook.

Today’s public notice from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is intended to meet that obligation and in addition proposes added protections for the remaining populations in three of the Maine’s largest rivers. Final habitat designation must be approved by April 30, 2009.

“Protecting critical habitat is an essential step in the restoration of wild Atlantic salmon which epitomized the health and vitality of Maine’s rivers for centuries,” said Sean Mahoney, director of the Conservation Law Foundation’s Maine Advocacy Center. “We will review the proposed habitat designation and the additional designations and hope that collaborative efforts with the federal agencies, the State and other stakeholders to restore this dynamic fish to our rivers will supplant the need for any future legal challenges.”

A December 2005 wild salmon recovery plan published by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service called for improving salmon habitat, but the agencies failed to designate critical habitat, a key step in the recovery process.

“Collaboration, and an open and measured dialogue will be the key to restoring this important fish species,” said Mahoney.

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The Conservation Law Foundation works to solve the environmental problems that threaten the people, natural resources and communities of New England. CLF’s advocates use law, economics and science to design and implement strategies that conserve natural resources, protect public health, and promote vital communities in our region. Founded in 1966, CLF is a nonprofit, member-supported organization. It has offices in Boston, Massachusetts; Concord, New Hampshire; Providence, Rhode Island; Montpelier, Vermont; and Brunswick, Maine.