LARGE RIVER ATLANTIC SALMON NURSERY
HABITAT ASSESSMENT
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission (MASC)
Upper Kennebec River
In Maine, there are now resources available, and emerging
interest in restoring runs of Atlantic salmon to large rivers
such as the Kennebec. An important part of salmon
management has relied on obtaining quantitative
population data for pre-smolt lifestages.
However, most quantitative salmon management assessment methods have historically been geared to smaller, wadable streams. Kleinschmidt developed boat electrofishing methodologies for surveying large Maine salmon river nursery habitat by adapting large-river quantitative sampling techniques to assess salmon productivity in a section of the upper Kennebec river targeted for salmon restoration. The method can be used to determine the relative production potential of river reaches, as well as to prioritize future spatial restoration and stocking targets.
A ten-mile segment of the Kennebec river between Solon
and North Anson, Maine currently inhabited by a wild population
of landlocked salmon was studied. Juvenile landlocked
salmon parr were used as surrogates for Atlantic
salmon. Experimental sites were established to determine
the number of passes required to deplete the sample area of
juvenile salmonids, number of passes required to deplete the
sample area of all fish, and the spatial distribution of fish
across a 500-ft wide channel. The study determined that
three to five consecutive passes were required to meet the
data requirements consistent with those historically obtained
from wadable streams, and that both salmon parr and other
species were non-randomly distributed in specific patches of
habitat. In addition, the data provided insights into habitat
selection preferences for salmon in large rivers that suggest
that salmon habitat use models developed from smaller
streams may not reflect habitat selection in large rivers.
For further information contact Brandon Kulik, Kleinschmidt, Pittsfield, Maine (207) 487-3328.