Thomas Morrison, of Winterport, Maine, was fishing a lake along with his son on Jan. 28 once they pulled an Atlantic salmon by means of the ice, in keeping with Bangor Daily News. Thinking they’d landed a big brown trout or a landlocked salmon, Morrison shared pictures of the 28-inch, five-pound fish on a Facebook group. Several members of the group then knowledgeable him that it was really a sea-run salmon that had made its method up from the Atlantic Ocean. Fortunately, he’d already launched the fish unhurt. The species is protected in Maine, which is residence to the one remaining native populations of Atlantic salmon within the United States.
The largest giveaway was the salmon’s clipped adipose fin. Fishery technicians with the Maine Department of Marine Resources reduce items out of those fins because the sea-run fish are counted on their method upriver. This helps anglers distinguish them from different salmonids. The company confirmed the species that Morrison had caught by means of the ice, and stated that this kind of factor solely occurs about as soon as each two years.
“Based on the photo and the size indicated, it appears to be a sea-run Atlantic salmon that has spent multiple winters at sea versus a grilse, which would have spent only one winter at sea and would be smaller,” an MDMR spokesperson advised the newspaper.
Morrison didn’t determine the physique of water he was fishing on, however the spokesperson defined that regardless that Atlantic salmon are sometimes related to rivers, they may typically overwinter in lakes.
Atlantics have been traditionally ample alongside the Eastern seaboard, however these anadromous runs crashed through the early 20th century due to dams, air pollution, and overfishing. Most rivers on the East Coast have been closed to salmon fishing by round 1950, in keeping with NOAA Fisheries, and the fish got federal protections underneath the Endangered Species Act in 2000.
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The Penobscot River was as soon as the epicenter of Atlantic salmon fishing within the Pine Tree State, and it’s estimated that round 100,000 of those fish used to make their spawning migration up the river every year. While the modern-day run is a shadow of its former self, the fish have been in a position to return lately because of a historic dam elimination mission in 2012. The MDMR counted roughly 1,325 Atlantic salmon through the 2022 run up the Penobscot, which represents the second-highest return within the time since these dams have been eliminated.
Because their restoration is sluggish and ongoing, Maine rules strictly prohibit the retention of sea-run Atlantic salmon. As Morrison realized final month, this could trigger confusion for the reason that state’s inland lakes are additionally residence to landlocked salmon and brown trout. The three species can look just like each other, which is why the MDMR stresses that if an angler catches a fish and is uncertain of the species, it’s greatest to do as Morrison did and launch it without delay.