NOAA Fisheries and USFWS released a joint Atlantic Salmon Recovery Plan yesterday. The Recovery Plan is the primary tool for guiding the species recovery process. The plan outlines needed actions, criteria for determining when the necessary level of conservation has been achieved, and time and cost estimates for meeting these criteria.

Atlantic salmon were once found in North American waters from Long Island Sound in the United States to Ungava Bay in northeastern Canada. Atlantic salmon are anadromous fish, spending the first half of their life in freshwater rivers and streams along the East Coast of North America and the second half maturing in the seas between Northeastern Canada and Greenland. Today, the last remnant populations of wild Atlantic salmon in U.S. waters exist in just a few rivers and streams in central and eastern Maine.

Atlantic salmon have been listed as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act since 2000, having declined from hundreds of thousands returning to New England rivers to around 1,000 individuals returning in 2017.

Through this recovery plan, NOAA Fisheries together with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is committed to giving Atlantic salmon their best chance to recover.

The recovery plan and a web story that explain more about Atlantic salmon conservation and our role in their recovery are available on our website.

As 2019 is the International Year of the Salmon, this Recovery Plan comes at the perfect time.