Merrimack Mark

Fancy that, finally some good news about New England Atlantic salmon.

A record 402 salmon were captured at the Essex Dam on the Merrimack River in of Lawrence this past spring. Yes, that’s right: 402. What the officials behind Connecticut River salmon restoration would give for a number like that these days.

The previous record on the Merrimack, which typically attracts smaller annual salmon runs than the Connecticut, was 332 in 1992, followed by 248 in 1991, 213 in 1985 and 199 in 1992. The best year on the Connecticut River was 1981, when 529 fish were captured. Second best was 1992, with 490. Over the past three years, the Connecticut River produced paltry spring runs of 108, 51 and 75.

The question is: What happened on the Merrimack? Why did so many salmon appear there in this pathetic era, when even Maine salmon rivers are off-limits to sportfishing because Atlantic salmon are now classified as endangered? Matt Carpenter, coordinator of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Anadromous Fish Restoration Program, isn’t sure what the answer is, and he isn’t willing to predict that an upswing has begun. No, he chooses to remain conservative and hopeful, saying, “Let’s wait and see what happens next year, first.” But he didn’t hesitate to admit being “encouraged” by this year’s run, and would now like to focus on a couple of factors while trying to pinpoint why?

“Take out the Connecticut, and the entire Northeast saw an increase this year,” Carpenter said. “It seems to point to an improvement in marine survival but we’re not certain why. It may be related to sea-surface temperature.

“Understanding the ocean is critical. That last surge we had (1990-92) was a cold phase, and salmon seem to like the cold phases. What’s interesting this year is that we’re actually in a warm phase, but the surface temps seem to fluctuate, so we’re going to have to take a closer look at them.”

Carpenter doesn’t think the tighter commercial-salmon-fishing regulations imposed in recent years were responsible for the Merrimack record. In response to a direct question on the subject, he replied, “No. Stricter regulations didn’t work” in increasing salmon runs.

Something else Carpenter finds encouraging from this year’s run is that all the fish were returns that had been stocked into the river basin as immature salmon in various stages of development (parr, fry and smolts). Asked if it’s common for immature salmon stocked into one river to find their way into another, he said no, “but we do think some of our ‘strays’ make it into (southern Maine’s) Saco River, which is very close to the Merrimack.”

Carpenter did not think it likely that his fish would find their way around “the Cape Cod obstacle” to the Connecticut. As for immature salmon stocked into the Connecticut River system finding their way into the Merrimack, he said he wouldn’t rule it out but didn’t expect it to happen often.

Obviously, there are many questions and few answers. But numbers don’t lie, and those from the Merrimack were indeed a relief to beleaguered Northeastern salmon-restoration folks.

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