U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fish biologists are stocking Atlantic salmon fry throughout New England including river systems and tributaries in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island and throughout New England. Stocking fry – juvenile fish – is an important part of the effort to recovery and restore the species, which is considered endangered in many Maine rivers.
Fish biologists welcome anyone interested in volunteering. For volunteering in the Connecticut River, contact Caleb Slater, at 508-369-6331. Volunteers wanting to stock fry in New Hampshire or Southern Maine should email Mike Bailey at michael_bailey@fws.govor call Denise Buckley at 207-469-6701.
“This year we are going to stock about a million fry in the Merrimack River,” said Joe McKeon of the Central New England Fishery Resources Office in Nashua, New Hampshire. Approximately three million fry will be stocked in river systems in Maine and another six million will be stocked in the Connecticut River watershed in 2011.
“Volunteers assist us and our partners in the Atlantic salmon restoration program. They participate as a way to stay connected with the outdoors,” Mckeon said of the importance of volunteers.
The value of fry stocking goes beyond the restoration of aquatic species.
“The salmon are an indicator species of the health of an ecosystem. Anything we can do to help Atlantic salmon doesn’t just help Atlantic salmon. It helps all the other aquatic species,” said Denise Buckley Assistant Manager of the Craig Brook hatchery.
