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Our Work

An overview of the mission and goals of the sea-run fish restoration community in Maine.

What We Do

The State of Maine, the U.S. Government, federally recognized tribes, non-governmental organizations, and educational institutions are currently working together in Maine to recover wild Atlantic salmon and other diadromous fish. As a community of partners, we strive to successfully protect and recover these species through river-specific stocking programs for endangered Atlantic salmon, barrier removal projects, and habitat quality improvement initiatives for rivers, estuaries and marine environments.

Our Mission

To recover the Gulf of Maine Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of Atlantic salmon as defined in the final listing rule (2009) of the Endangered Species Act (74 FR 29344), and restore other sea-run fish and their habitats.

The Website

The Atlantic Salmon Recovery Framework identified the need to establish a website "...to provide public access to the framework, work plans, solicitations and any relevant documents." In its draft Outreach Strategy, the Framework's Outreach and Education Group identified a new website as the most important delivery mechanism for salmon recovery outreach.

We formed a web team to work with the North Atlantic LCC and Ferguson Lynch Consulting to create a comprehensive web content management system tailored to the needs of all partners involved in Atlantic salmon and sea-run fish restoration in Maine.

The goals of this website are to provide a central location for adding and distributing information and to help:

  • demystify regulations;
  • improve public knowledge;
  • highlight recovery efforts;
  • promote resources, opportunities, projects and accomplishments; and
  • demonstrate that there is a community of partners working on restoration and those partners are easy to reach.

The pilot Collaborative Management Strategy replaced the "Framework" in 2019. The new governance structure required us to update the website accordingly. While pertinent content will remain, we will update the site on a regulate basis. Dated or obsolete material will be archived, but remain accessible. We are continuing to delete ghost/blank pages and removing broken links. We are still working with Ferguson Lynch to stay relevant and to maximize the utility of the site.

Why it Matters

Maine currently has the last remaining populations of wild Atlantic salmon in the United States. In addition, Maine’s residents have deep recreational, cultural and economic ties to sea-run fish, such as Atlantic salmon, river herring, American eel, and striped bass. Although the state remains relatively undeveloped, compared to other areas of New England, urbanization, overfishing, dams and other changes to the landscapes are significantly threatening sea-run fish and their habitats. Sea-run fish often serve as indicators for the health of our environment; requiring the use of freshwater, adjacent riparian habitat, estuaries and marine waters across all life stages. Population declines signal overarching problems with the quality of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. We hope to reverse these declining trends and restoring the fish populations that are so intrinsically linked to our culture and history.

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