ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered

YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 2000  

CRITICAL HABITAT: None finalized; 12,000 river miles and 300 square miles of lake habitat proposed 2008

RECOVERY PLAN: 2005

RANGE: In Maine, at least encompasses the Dennys, East Machias, Machias, Pleasant, Narraguagus, Ducktrap, Kennebec, and Sheepscot rivers, as well as Cove Brook

THREATS: Excessive and unregulated water withdrawal, fish diseases, interbreeding with and competition from escaped farm-raised salmon, predation by introduced fish, pesticides, excessive fishing, and sedimentation and other impacts to stream habitat from development, agriculture, and logging

POPULATION TREND: In fewer than 300 years, the Atlantic salmon's numbers have decreased by 90 percent. Wild salmon have been extirpated from at least 14 small coastal rivers in the Gulf of Maine, and populations south of the Kennebec River have been extirpated. Only eight rivers in the Gulf of Maine are known to still support wild Atlantic salmon, and at substantially reduced abundance levels. In 2004, total adult returns to the eight Maine rivers were estimated to range from only 60 to 113 salmon, and no adult fish were documented in three of the eight rivers.

Photo by William Hartley, USFWS