BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 22, 2021
The most egregious omission from Maine’s Endangered Species Act is Atlantic salmon. Classified as endangered at the national level, wild native Atlantic salmon in the United States persist only in Maine, and they are hanging by a thread. Maine is the last hope we have of preventing Atlantic salmon from going extinct in America. Yet recent requests by conservationists, native fish advocates, scientists, and former DIF&W, DMR, and Maine Department of Environmental Protection administrators and biologists to list Atlantic salmon as endangered at the state level were declined. It’s time for Maine to put science ahead of politics, and fully embrace the intent of the federal and state ESA programs. ~ Bob Mallard