Stocking scheduled for salmon smolts on the Piscataquis River

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Department of Marine Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have announced the spring 2013 stocking schedule for Atlantic salmon smolts.
    Over a half a million (553,000) of the six-inch-long smolts produced at the USFWS Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery in Orland will be stocked in the Penobscot watershed this year. Included in that total are 125,000 smolts that will be stocked in the Piscataquis River in East Dover from April 15-17. Smolt stocking is one of the primary tools biologists use for restoring depleted populations of Atlantic salmon.

    Nearly all smolts stocked in Maine will immediately swim downriver to the sea and migrate northward to Atlantic Canada and Greenland where they live for one to two years before returning to Maine to spawn. A few smolts that are not quite ready to migrate may linger near the stocking site for a few weeks.
    Anglers are reminded that Atlantic salmon of all life stages in Maine are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act and all salmon captured in the Penobscot River and its tributaries that are less than 14 inches or greater than 25 inches in length must be released alive and unharmed. For more information, anglers are reminded to consult the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife regulation booklet for special exceptions.
    For questions or more information contact Maine Department of Marine Resources Biologist Oliver Cox at 941-4487.