United States leading actions to save wild Atlantic salmon

Tor-Eddie Fossbakk On the eve of this week’s North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization’s (NASCO) meeting in Bar Harbor, Maine, the organization released a new report from an international review group. The group has evaluated how member countries have implemented plans to conserve their native wild Atlantic salmon. The United States received a perfect score, the same as England and Wales, followed by Norway. These countries led the pack of 18 Nations that comprise NASCO. A press release from NASCO Monday expressed great satisfaction with the efforts and achievements reached by United States, England and Wales, and Norway. However, the organization is quite disappointed over the review’s finding which “reveals various degrees of inadequacy in the implementation plans of 15 other NASCO member Nations, from failing to relate actions to agreements to simply not submitting”. NASCO urges top scorers to push these nations to explain themselves, and to undertake rapid revision and improvement of their plans. The US salmon populations met just 6.4 % of their minimum sustainability targets in 2006. However, this was up from 4 % in 2005. One example of the United States’ commitment is reflected in its recovery plan for the endangered populations in eight Maine rivers, including the renewal of the Penobscot River, a $50 million dollar. An example of Norway’s commitment is the recent Parliament decision to protect 29 fiords and 52 rivers along the Norwegian coast by turning these areas into salmon sanctuaries. To read the full report: http://www.atlanticsalmonfederation.org/