Salmon Run for the Last Several Years

NEW! The anadromous fish totals for 2007:
(updated October, 2007)

Cataract Dam (Total):	2007	2006	2005	2004
Atlantic Salmon	24	30	24	19
American Shad:	1,428	953	unknown	435
Alewives and Blueback Herring:	16,084	7,994	unknown	32,295
Skelton Dam (2nd Dam):	2007	2006	2005	2004
Atlantic Salmon:		0	6	5
American Shad:		unknown	unknown	0
River Herring:		unknown	unknown	~24,000

Please see the map of the Saco River for dam locations

Adult Salmon Returns for Last Several Years

salmon run chart

This chart shows the number of salmon that have returned over the last 6 years. The salmon run for the Saco River primarily occurs in June and July. An additional 15% may arrive in the fall; these are typically stragglers that arrived when the main stem of the river was warmer than what is preferable.

Historical Electrofishing Results

Young of Year Parr

'97 '99 '00 '01 '02 '99 '00 '01 '02

Back Brook 12 59 14 37 13 3 11 23 18

Little River 36 0

Black Brook 6 0

Cold Water Brook 62 0

Wadsworth Brook 29 9

Ridlon Brook 2 21

Hancock Brook 0 4

Kilick Brook 161 12

Pugsley Brook 17 29 19 32 30 2 18 14 13

Shepards Brook 197 119 64 149 2 25 31 12

Tenmile Brook 141 102 390 0 28 29

Note: Results show Fry/Parr per unit. 1 unit = 100 square meters of suitable habitat

The Salmon

The club has been producing fry from eggs since '97 with low production levels for the first couple of years. Previously, the river was stocked with smolts from the state hatchery and the returns to the river up to this point have mostly consisted of the state raised smolts. This year marks a turning point, however, as it is the first class of salmon returning from fry raised at our hatchery and stocked into the Saco Tributaries*. Every year we learn more about raising salmon from eggs, we have better knowledge of suitable habitat to place the fry, and the number of eggs hatched continues to rise, we are very confident that the run will increase over the next several years. A long-term plan is to have enough salmon return so we can use the returning fish in a river specific breeding program that would be more adapted to the Saco River watershed.

* Although we have been stocking the Saco River for a number of years with fry, it wasn't until 1999 that we started putting them into the tributaries. Since the tributaries provide much better habitat for fry, we are very hopeful the returns for this year will be healthy.

The Hatchery

This year the club is raising more than 600,000 Atlantic Salmon fry to be stocked throughout the Saco River watershed. The hatchery has produced several million fry since 1997 to restore a self-sustaining salmon population in the river. Please see the hatchery link on the left column for a virtual tour of our facility.