Saco Salmon Restoration Alliance & Hatchery
P.O. Box 115, Saco, ME 04072
We are a publicly funded all-volunteer non-profit organization. Our volunteers are continuing to contribute between 2000 and 3000 hours yearly to keep our salmon hatchery in operation.
Saco Salmon Restoration Alliance & Hatchery – 2025 News
January 2025
As of 1/15/25, we have about one hundred thirty-five salmon in our hatchery.
There were two more spawning sessions at the hatchery resulting in a total of about 60,000 green salmon eggs being incubated at the hatchery.
The Fish Friends program sponsored by the Maine Council of the Atlantic Salmon Federation will continue this year with eggs supplied from the Green Lake fish hatchery. We have at least four volunteers helping distribute eyed-up eggs and necessary equipment to fifteen area schools.
Max Wassitsch, our UNE Intern this semester, will be helping to keep the hatchery fish healthy and perform the necessary maintenance to help keep the hatchery in operation.
February 2025
Our first eyed-up egg planting of the year was held on Saturday February 8, 2025. 19,000 eyed-up eggs were planted in Swan Pond Creek in Dayton with our Redd-o-Matic equipment. We had eleven volunteers helping with the egg planting. More egg planting may be planned for February.
March 2025
We offered the hatchery, all the equipment and the salmon program to the University of New England for free. The state offered UNE a free 25-year lease on the entire property including the state side of the building.
Our last eyed-up egg planting of the year was held on Saturday March 1, 2025. 18,000 eyed-up eggs were planted in Swan Pond Creek in Dayton with our Redd-o-Matic equipment by our hatchery and UNE student volunteers.
April 2025
On April 5th our Board of Directors held a Zoom meeting with UNE’s Jim Irwin, CPA, we were informed that because of federal funding cuts to UNE, consideration of UNE taking over the hatchery was halted. UNE cannot consider taking over the salmon hatchery under current circumstances.
Our hatchery continued to be staffed by UNE citizenship students, Max Wassitsch, our UNE Intern this semester and our regular hatchery staff volunteers.
May 2025
Our Board of Directors met with a facilitator, Brad Swanson, on May 5th to discuss the future of the hatchery and how we should proceed.
The UNE volunteer students all finished their commitments with our hatchery by graduation in May 2025
June 2025
During the past twelve months, the Board of Directors has been discussing the future of our hatchery. That culminated in a meeting in May where we identified multiple roadblocks to Atlantic salmon restoration on the Saco River.
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No more than four salmon were counted at the Cataract East Channel Fishway in each of the past 11 years.
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In 2016, the Saco River was excluded from the Gulf of Maine Salmon Habitat Restoration Unit resulting in the loss of the federal hatchery to supply our eggs.
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The increasing challenges and costs of rearing our own broodstock.
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Six dams on the Saco River, that even with operational fish passage, will prevent self-sustaining populations of Atlantic salmon.
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A long-term partnership with the University of New England to operate the hatchery was abandoned largely due to cuts in indirect costs associated with federal funding to universities.
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An aging core of hatchery volunteers and facility equipment needs will present additional long-term challenges.
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Without any clear alternatives, the Board of Directors decided to release all the remaining salmon held in captivity on June 23, 2025, beginning at 9AM. We have the stocking permit, and we will need at least ten volunteers to help load salmon into the trucks for release below Skelton Dam. Please contact Garry Kasten if you are available to help. gkasten42@gmail.com
What happens next?
As part of our commitment and ongoing efforts to restore Atlantic salmon to the Saco River, representatives of our Board of Directors have been discussing and negotiating with a Maine based commercial Atlantic salmon hatchery. This partnership may allow our organization to focus our resources and equipment in return for much larger and assorted age classes of Atlantic salmon to be stocked several times annually in the Saco River with traditional stocking methods. This will be discussed at our next Board of Directors meeting in July. Progress updates will be provided in future newsletters.
The Board of Directors will be having further discussions to revise the mission and objectives of the Saco Salmon Restoration Alliance.
What can you do?
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Continue your support to advocate for anadromous fish passage and habitat conservation throughout the Saco River Watershed.
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Volunteer to release the remaining salmon from the hatchery.
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Forward suggestions of non-profits that might be interested in assuming the lease for the hatchery building.
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Volunteer to help clean the hatchery.
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Contact the Board of Directors with your suggestions to set a new course for SSRA.
Sincerely,
John Blunt, President jblunt1@maine.rr.com
David Adams, V.P. davidadams563@gmail.com
Garry Kasten, Treasurer gkasten42@gmail.com
Mark Woodruff, Director markw@sacoriver.net
Update – June 12, 2025. Two volunteers stocked two hundred-four fry and eight wild Atlantic salmon Parr in West Brook.
Update – June 23, 2025. We had fifteen volunteers helping with the stocking of one hundred-three wild Atlantic salmon broodstock in four locations.
Newsletter prepared by Garry Kasten and David Adams
Thank you all for your generous support.