Maine NFC and DSF Put Up First New Atlantic Salmon Signs

Maine chapter Native Fish Coalition Chair Emily Bastian and Downeast Salmon Federation Executive Director Dwayne Shaw put up the first of what will be 80 new informational Atlantic salmon signs in Downeast Maine.  Co-sponsored with Maine Department of Marine Resources and Atlantic Salmon Federation, these aluminum signs with UV ink remind anglers and others that the water they are at is home to federally endangered Atlantic salmon. 

Funded by NFC, DSF and ASF, these signs remind us that while critically endangered, there is still hope that Atlantic salmon will once again swim Maine's rivers as long as groups such as DSF and ASF and agencies such as the federal government and DMR remain committed to their restoration.  To lose the "King of Fish" would be a tragedy.

Below: Emily Bastian and Dwayne Shaw hanging a sign at the lower Pleasant River. 

Below: Emily Bastian and Dwayne Shaw hanging a sign at the upper Pleasant River. 

Below: Emily Bastian and Dwayne Shaw hanging a sign at the Narraguagus River.    

We left behind 76 signs with DSF and plan on dropping 80 off at ASF for the Penebscot River later this week.

I believe the fact we did this on Earth Day, the day after we celebrated World Fish Migration Day with our friends from DSF and Downeast Maine, and the first nice day we have had this spring is an omen :)   

This project is dedicated to the late Clinton “Bill” Townsend of Canaan, Maine, Maine's foremost “fish conservationist.”  Few if any have done more for Maine's Atlantic salmon as Bill.  An avid angler, Bill was the rare breed of sportsman who continued to lobby for the protection of a fish he could no longer angle for.  Few stood taller and for longer than Bill in regard to the plight of Maine's Atlantic salmon.