CONGRESSIONAL. RECORD — SENATE
August 17, 1978
Page 26711
RETURN OF THE ATLANTIC SALMON
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, it is always heartening to hear of a Government program which works, especially if the success is recorded in one's home State.
The success being achieved in the effort to clean up Maine's rivers is an outstanding example of how positive results can be achieved when the resources of the Federal, State, and local governments are joined with clearly directed private efforts.
I submit for the RECORD a letter and news release describing the return of Atlantic salmon to the Penobscot River and Kenduskeag Stream in Bangor, Maine. The cover letter from Lester A. Decoster, New England regional manager of the American Forest Institute generously credits my efforts as instrumental in the success in Maine. Real credit, though, belongs to the people of Maine and the industries of Maine which have responded so positively to the Federal mandate to work toward fishable, swimmable waters.
The progress discussed in the American Forestry Institute news release is heartening but there is even more to the story. I continue to hear reports of regular landings of Atlantic salmon by commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Maine. There is not now anything approaching a commercial fishery for Atlantic salmon but this incidental landing in the process of fishing for other species offers the hope that Atlantic salmon may, in the not too distant future, provide new opportunities for commercial fishing.
The material follows:
AMERICAN FOREST INSTITUTE,
August 2, 1978.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
Russell Senate Office Building, Room #145
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: Since one of your legislative goals has been to require fishable and swimmable water in our industrialized rivers, you would have enjoyed downtown Bangor in July where people were fishing — for Atlantic Salmon — and in the process, swimming, in Kenduskeag Stream.
As a prime mover in water clean-up legislation you must be pleased to see public and private efforts producing results like this. It hasn't been cheap, and I'm sure you have letters (some of them mine) complaining about the costs. But, you also deserve laurels for the results.
Here's a news story on this summer's salmon "experience" in Bangor, but there's one thing left out — I should have included you as one of the "institutions" instrumental in making it happen.
Best regards,
LESTER A. DECOSTER,
New England Regional Manager.
AMERICAN FOREST INSTITUTE,
Bangor, Maine, July 20, 1978.
IS THAT A SALMON UNDER THE BUS STOP?
In Bangor, Maine this third week of July you can catch a bus, a bank, or a salmon. Atlantic Salmon up to 30 inches long are swimming up Kenduskeag Stream between the new bank buildings and under the five bridges that span the stream.
Bangor would appear to be one of the few cities in the world where you can catch an Atlantic Salmon in the midst of downtown traffic.
Back of the nine-story Merrill Bank Building and under the bridge at the bus stop young boys in blue jeans wade elbow-to-elbow with business-suited office workers wearing rubber boots, as spectators and game wardens watch the occasional taking of salmon weighing 12 to 20 pounds. Because the stream is tidal, no license is required, and some of the fishing methods used outrage the sensibilities of many salmon fishermen, moving them to propose that the stream be closed to fishing. The law does draw the line at clubbing, netting, and "jigging" (hooking by pulling a lure up sharply into a resting fish), and some arrests have been made.
The return of Atlantic Salmon to Bangor is a result of years of public and private efforts.
The first effort involved the Penobscot River, the main thoroughfare to Bangor for salmon. The seven pulp and paper mills on the 90-mile stretch of the Penobscot from Millinocket to the Atlantic Ocean have spent around $61 million on water pollution abatement facilities, and are spending close to $7 million per year operating those facilities. Most of the cities on the river also have water treatment plants with Old Town starting up this week and Bangor on line, except for one section awaiting federal funds.(Uncle Sam where are you?) Over 120 thousand people live along the banks of the Penobscot River — close to 84 thousand in the Bangor-Brewer and suburbs area.
A program of clearing obstructions, putting fishways on dams, and a salmon stocking program that started in 1966 have been the final ingredients for the return of the salmon.
Is this year's Atlantic Salmon fishing in Bangor only a one-time thing? According to Alfred Meister, Chief Biologist for the Atlantic Sea-Run Salmon Commission in Bangor, the fishing should continue to improve.
Presently, the commission is stocking approximately 300 thousand fish per year in the Penobscot River watershed. The salmon come from the Green Lake Hatchery near Bangor, with a $7 million expansion recently making it the biggest salmon hatchery in the world. According to Meister, a few fish returned in 1968, and by 1969 he knew we were on our way to an improved fishery. He hopes to be stocking 400 thousand to 500 thousand fish per year in the future. The biologist feels that the management of the river will be a put, grow, and take operation augmented by natural spawning and production. According to Meister, in most years, natural spawning would now keep salmon returning to the river, but stocking is still necessary to overcome the occasional year when dry weather conditions create low flows in the river, affecting natural reproduction. Meister feels that this may happen every decade or so.
Meister says there are now fishways or negotiable openings on all dams on the Penobscot, giving fish access to the headwaters. The old dams on Kenduskeag Stream have washed out, giving access to spawning areas on the Kenduskeag.
According to Meister, salmon are coming up the Kenduskeag through Bangor in large quantities this year because of a warm spell and decreased flow in the Penobscot River. Tidal flushing and groundwater in Kenduskeag Stream makes it cooler than the Penobscot, and thus attractive to salmon.
Approximately 70 percent of the salmon run has already come up the river, but there will be some fish coming in all summer with most of the run done in August. The spawning will be in mid-October ending by early November if the pattern runs true to form. Last year salmon were spawning under the Interstate 95 Bridge in the Kenduskeag at Bangor during the second week of October.
Salmon have been returning to the Kenduskeag for the last five to six years in reasonable numbers. They're attracting attention in downtown Bangor this year, because of the unusually large numbers coming through the downtown area in midday.
The salmon are adding another dimension to water clean-up efforts. While watching the fish, many people became aware for the first time that there is a covered bridge spanning the Kenduskeag in the midst of the city; some people were moved to pull out some of the shopping carts, old tires, and hub caps that had been thrown into the stream and left there over the years; and people were using the handsome walkway that's been built along the stream, a walkway that has seen very little use before.
One of the goals set by the water pollution abatement laws was that of having "fishable and swimmable" water in our industrialized rivers. But, while we've been spending billions to meet these goals, people have grown used to driving far from the cities for their recreation, searching for their idea of "wilderness."
The "vanishing wilderness" appears to be returning under the bridges and behind the buildings of our towns and cities, Perhaps the presence of Atlantic Salmon in the midst of a small, Maine city will lead people to look at the land and water near their homes and offices again.
Note: Source of information on salmon program: Mr. Alfred Meister, Chief Biologist,Atlantic Sea-Run Salmon Commission, Building 34, Idaho Avenue, Bangor, Maine 04401, phone: (207) 947-8627.