Town Diary - May 2003
Future of Whittemore Salmon Station on Hold
Looking Back
Before European settlers arrived in North America, the Atlantic salmon began life
and spawned in freshwater rivers and streams along the northern Atlantic coast of
North America. The southern boundary of their original range was Connecticut's
Housatonic River and the northern boundary was the Ungava Bay in northern Quebec.
With the European settlers and the industrial revolution, however, came dams that
harnessed the power of rivers and even small streams. As beneficial as these
dams were to man, they were equally detrimental to the fish species that traveled
up and down these rivers, including the Atlantic salmon. In the two centuries
since that time, man has made various attempts to restore what he lost.
Before the 1960s, sporadic attempts to restore the Atlantic salmon to the Connecticut
River system were unsuccessful. However, in 1967, the Anadromous Fish Act
was passed, and the beginning of the current effort to restore these species began
in earnest. By the late 1970s, this effort began to show success. It
was at this time that the Whittemore Salmon Station was built in Barkhamsted, Connecticut.
In 1981, the facility began accepting its first returning adult Atlantic salmon
and took its place in a network of facilities, agencies, and people dedicated to
restoring Atlantic salmon to New England.
The restoration program is a cooperative project undertaken
by the four states in the Connecticut River basin - Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Vermont, and New Hampshire and the federal government, represented by the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the U.S. Forest Service.
These entities formed the Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon Commission (CRASC),
which manages the program. The states are represented on CRASC by the natural resource
agencies and in Connecticut that means the Inland Fisheries Division of the Connecticut
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
The Division built the Whittemore Salmon Station, the Rainbow Dam Fishway,
and other facilities in the state to support the restoration program.
It carefully coordinates its activities with its sister agencies in CRASC.
Lifecycle of the Atlantic Salmon
Fish like salmon are known as anadromous, meaning they hatch in fresh water,
live most of their lives in salt water, then return to fresh water to spawn.
Fish that have the reverse cycle are called catadromous.
The Atlantic salmon begins life in late spring in freshwater streams and rivers
in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada and in northern Europe.
When they first hatch they are called alevins or sac fry. After three to six
weeks, as they emerge from their river bottom gravel nests, they are called fry.
As the fry develop camouflaging color and stripes, they are known as parr and generally
measure about two inches in length. They remain in this stage of their life,
growing and feeding in their native stream, for anywhere from one to three years,
at which time they become smolts. The smolt stage is when the Atlantic salmon
adopts the silver color needed for sea camouflage and when their body chemistry
changes for life at sea. Weighing just a couple ounces and measuring about
six inches long, they head out to sea. In our area, the fish travel down their
native stream to the Connecticut River, down the Connecticut River to Long Island
Sound, then northward through the Atlantic Ocean to the Davis Straits, located between
Labrador and Greenland, a journey of approximately 3,000 miles. The north
Atlantic is the adult range for Atlantic salmon from the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
Salmon traveling from the Connecticut River have one of the longest journeys of
all the Atlantic salmon, coming from the southernmost tip of their habitat.
Salmon spend one to three years in the north Atlantic feeding, growing, and maturing,
before getting ready to spawn. When they are ready to spawn, they generally
weigh anywhere from eight to 15 pounds and they begin heading back to their native
stream in early spring. They find their way back using their sense of smell.
Each stream whether the Farmington River, Morgan Brook, or Sandy Brook possesses
a unique chemical identity based upon the combination of factors within its watershed:
soil types, forest types, bedrocks, plant communities, etc. These factors
produce an odor discernible to parr and smolts living in these streams and the fish
memorize this odor both as they live in their home stream and as they emigrate downstream
to the ocean as smolts. Innate guidance draws the adult salmon back to coastal
waters but once close to the mouth of the home basin (in our case, the Connecticut
River), the fish's sense of smell takes over and it "follows its nose" upstream
to the familiar scent of its home stream.
Northward they swim, up the Connecticut River, and then they
take a left turn into the Farmington River in Windsor.
Before dams were built, they would continue until they reached the spot of
their origin, perhaps the West Branch of the Farmington River here in Barkhamsted,
or Sandy Brook in Colebrook, for example.
Now however, they swim only as far as the Rainbow Dam in the Poquonock section
of Windsor.
Throughout May and June, they enter a fish passage built to enable fish to
swim upstream past the 60-foot hydroelectric power generation dam.
This fish ladder is closely monitored by the DEP.
Photos above
(taken June 2003)- At left, the Rainbow Dam in Windsor, Connecticut. Because
anadromous fish like the Atlantic Salmon could not bypass this 60-foot obstacle
in their path back to the Farmington River, the DEP built a fish ladder to help
them around the dam. Photo at right- the fish ladder, or fishway, that enables
returning fish to get around the 60-foot high Rainbow Dam in Windsor.
Photo above- This
trap, near the bottom of the fish ladder, is monitored closely and used to catch
returning Atlantic salmon. Once a salmon is caught here, the Whittemore Salmon
Station staff transport the fish back to Barkhamsted.
When
a returning adult salmon is captured, Joe Ravita or Andy Murrett of the Whittemore
Salmon Station gets a call and heads out in a specially prepared fish transport
truck to pick up the weary traveler.
The fish is transported by truck to Barkhamsted, where it is held throughout
the summer at the Whittemore Salmon Station, in closely regulated tanks that simulate
the environment of the Farmington River, where the fish would have spent the summer
if man had never intervened.
During this phase, the salmon do not eat.
Photos above (taken in April 2003)- The Whittemore
Salmon Station located on East River Road, Barkhamsted, in Peoples State Forest.
In the fall, the returning adult salmon spawns, laying eggs in a gravel
nest (called a redd) at the bottom of its native stream. Or would, that is,
if it weren't for the DEP. Nowadays, the fish spawn at the Whittemore facility
in the fall, and their eggs are transported to White River National Fish Hatchery
in Bethel, Vermont for incubation and hatching. The Vermont facility incubates
the eggs because it can regulate its water temperature more tightly than the Whittemore
facility allows. In nature, fish that have spawned, called kelts, might spend
the winter in their native stream (still not eating) and return to the ocean the
following spring, or they might make the seaward journey in the late fall.
Once back in salt water, the fish begin to eat again and return to the north Atlantic.
The Atlantic salmon, unlike Pacific salmon, make this journey back and forth to
spawn for as many as seven years. But the journey back and forth is 6,000
miles and full of peril. Predators, fishing, and oceanic conditions jeopardize
the adult salmon during its lifecycle.
Atlantic Salmon Situation Today
After nearly 20 years of successfully increasing the number of returning Atlantic
salmon, the anadromous fish restoration program has seen declining numbers since
1998. This decline is due to a wide range of factors, such as changing ocean
temperatures (a change of as little as 0.5 degree in average ocean temperature can
affect the salmon's ability to survive), predation, fishing, and even fish farming.
Even the success of other fish restoration efforts, such as the striped bass, can
affect the salmon since striped bass eat salmon smolts in Long Island Sound.
NOAA estimates the historic Atlantic salmon return to U.S. waters approached 500,000
fish. The Atlantic Salmon Federation estimates the number of adult Atlantic
salmon available to return to the North American rivers dropped from 200,000 to
just 80,000 between 1994 and 1999 alone. This drop is the continuation of
a pattern that has occurred through the last 50 years. Closer to home, Northeast
Utilities counted 91 returning Atlantic salmon at the Holyoke fish passage in 1999.
According to the Connecticut River Salmon Association Newsletter, only 76 adult
salmon returned to the Connecticut River in 2000. In 2002, just 43 adult salmon
were counted at fishways on the Connecticut River. With an unusually cold
and rainy spring, yielding high river flows, the numbers for 2003 are likely to
be similar. While specific causes for this decline in returning adults is
unknown, most organizations agree that a complex web of declining marine conditions
are to blame. "It's death by a thousand cuts," says Frederick G. Whoriskey,
Jr., Vice President for research at the Atlantic Salmon Federation.
On the bright side, progress continues to be made in combating over-fishing of the
Atlantic salmon. The United States discontinued this practice in the 1940s,
Canada discontinued it in most areas during the 1990s, and Greenland just agreed
to suspend commercial fishing of Atlantic salmon in August 2002, leaving just United
Kingdom and Ireland with significant commercial fishing operations for Atlantic
salmon. This reduction in fishing in the north Atlantic may increase the number
of fish that survive to return to our area in the future.
Some experts fear, however, that the growing aquaculture industry of salmon farming,
which has largely taken the place of commercial salmon fishing, may over time adversely
affect the wild salmon populations it would appear to help. (For more information
on this topic, see the July 2003 issue of National Geographic magazine, which will
include an article called "Everybody Loves Atlantic Salmon - Here's the Catch" by
Fen Montaigne.)
Another
hopeful sign for the Atlantic salmon is the recent renewal of the Connecticut River
Atlantic Salmon Compact, signaling another 20-year commitment to restoring Atlantic
salmon by the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The Whittemore Salmon Station
The small brown building in the Whittemore
Recreation Area of the People's Forest is often called a "holding facility" for
salmon, but that term belies the complexity of its role in anadromous fish restoration
efforts. The facility is currently staffed by two full-time employees who
live on-site, Joe Ravita and Andy Murrett, and one seasonal employee. Ravita
has a degree in wildlife and fisheries from the University of Vermont and has been
working at Whittemore since 1987. Murrett has a degree in fisheries from the
University of Massachusetts. These highly trained men are responsible for
every aspect of the salmon at the facility and they also work on developing new
methods and tools that enhance the fish restoration efforts.
For example, folks at the Whittemore facility
have worked on improved handling and transportation methods to get the fish from
the Rainbow Dam to the Whittemore facility. In the earliest days of the program,
mortality varied greatly. Now, through improved techniques, equipment, and
antibiotics that reduce the stress on the fish and ward off disease, nearly all
the salmon that are brought from the Rainbow Dam survive to spawn.
Photos above (May 2003)- At left, one of three primary
salmon tanks at the Whittemore Salmon Station. This one is currently being
used to house domestic salmon. At right, another of the three primary salmon
tanks. This one is currently being used to house wild Atlantic salmon that
were captured at the Rainbow Dam as they returned from the ocean.
When it comes time for the fish to spawn in the fall, the Whittemore facility
plays an active role in breeding, which has become increasingly sophisticated with
the use of genetics. When fish return from the sea, tissue samples are taken
and analyzed at a research lab in Massachusetts. Biologists are able to tell
where the returning adult originally came from, when it was bred, and even its family
origins. Genetic analysis is carefully considered in the breeding program
at Whittemore, so genetic diversity can be best encouraged among the relatively
small salmon population, thereby strengthening the species as much as possible.
Although the majority of eggs produced during spawning are transferred to the White
River facility in Vermont for incubation and hatching, about 400,000 eggs are now
being incubated right here in Colebrook, in a special facility in the Goodwin Dam.
This facility has been developed and maintained by the Whittemore crew in cooperation
with the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), who own and operate the dam.
Of the 400,000 eggs incubated at this facility, approximately 250,000 become fry
that are stocked back into the Farmington River, mostly in Barkhamsted and Hartland.
The staff at the Whittemore Salmon Station has developed the Connecticut River Future
Broodstock Eggbank as well. This facility incubates sea-run-origin eggs for
use as domestic broodstock at the Kensington (CT) State Fish Hatchery. Eggs
are taken from sea-run broodstock held at Whittemore and at the Richard Cronin National
Salmon Station in Massachusetts, along with the kelts held at North Attleboro National
Fish Hatchery in Massachusetts. These are crossed with milt (seminal fluid)
from sea-run, kelt and precocious parr and incubated in quarantined environment
until the "eyed" stage. Following a health screening of the "parents" to reduce
the risk of pathogen transfer, the eggs are moved to Kensington to be reared to
maturity as domestic broodstock.
One of the areas
in which the Whittemore staff has made notable advancements is reconditioning kelts,
or training them to eat in fresh water.
In nature, adult salmon do not eat from the time they enter the fresh water
to spawn until after they return to the sea.
Because kelts remain at Whittemore after spawning, they must be taught to
eat again in order to ensure their survival and continued reproduction.
The Whittemore staff played a crucial role in developing methodologies to
retrain kelts to eat, testing and evaluating a special diet that encourages them
to eat again. This mixture of herring, shrimp, beef liver, vitamins, and a binding
mash is prepared at the Whittemore facility.
(Ravita's work has been cited in a report on kelt reconditioning by the Columbia
River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission of Portland, Oregon.)
The Whittemore Salmon Station generally
houses between 60 and 100 kelts. At present, they have salmon from the "classes"
of 1997 through 2002. Atlantic salmon return from the sea at about four years
old and live another four to six years at Whittemore. During that period,
they may spawn as many as five times, though they become less productive as they
age. The largest kelt now living at Whittemore is a 35-pound male. The
largest fish to have lived at Whittemore grew to 52 pounds from his initial returning
weight of 10 pounds. Recently, as the number of returning wild salmon has
decreased, the extra space at Whittemore has been used to house growing numbers
of domestic Atlantic salmon. These fish are held in a separate tank and are
selected for their strong, broad genetic characteristics.
The Whittemore Station has also worked with
the local community. In May 2000, Ravita assisted the first large-scale salmon
rearing effort in a Connecticut school when he delivered 400 of the Whittemore salmon
fry to vo/ag students from Northwest Regional #7 High School's new aquaculture facility.
In this program, initiated by teacher Jason Bassi and DEP biologist Steve Gephard,
Ravita assisted the students throughout the year, and in the spring of 2001, they
stocked the fish they had been raising into the local rivers, giving those fish
the genetic imprint they needed to guide them on their return trip. One of
their salmon smolts was observed migrating downstream at the Rainbow Dam, nearly
50 miles downstream from its release point in Winsted.
What Does the Future Hold?
Despite the re-signing of the Connecticut
River Atlantic Salmon Compact, federal and state budget constraints are likely to
affect just how the Atlantic salmon restoration program is carried out. Governor
Rowland and the Connecticut legislature have yet to reach agreement on the state
s budget for the 2003-2004 fiscal year, and cutbacks in some areas are assured,
due to budget shortfalls reaching millions of dollars.
As part of the ongoing budget wrangling,
a plan to mothball Barkhamsted s Whittemore Salmon Station has already been drawn
up. Whether it is put into effect or not depends upon the outcome of the current
budget talks. This plan would actually place the facility in maintenance status. However,
maintenance status would mean the current staff of two full-time employees and one
seasonal employee would be relocated to other facilities, and the fish would be
relocated as well, leaving the Whittemore facility empty and nonfunctional.
The funding crunch is occurring at the national
level as well as the state level. For example, Congress did not authorize
funding for the Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon Commission (CRASC) during the
CRASC reauthorization process. Conservationists who care about the salmon
restoration to the Farmington River and Barkhamsted should urge their elected officials
(both state and federal) to support efforts to properly fund this program.
Primary Sources for this Article
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Interview
with Joe Ravita at Whittemore Salmon Station, May 22, 2003.
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-
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National Geographic,
July 2003, "Everybody Loves Atlantic Salmon - Here's the Catch" by Fen Montaigne
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Article review and additional material provided by Steve Gephard, biologist
with the Inland Fisheries Division of the
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
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