After 45 Years Of Trying, The Salmon Never Made It Back

Failure of the campaign by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to repopulate the Connecticut River and its tributaries with a meaningful number of once-native Atlantic salmon wasn't for lack of trying.

The federal agency spent nearly five decades and hundreds of millions of dollars raising salmon fry and smolts at its New England hatcheries to introduce to the river each spring, building a fishway to surmount the dam on the river at Holyoke and otherwise coddling the species.

But in the end, despite the heroic effort, its attempt to rebuild a stable population of wild Atlantic salmon in the Connecticut system was in vain. Some things are not meant to be


http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-salmon-restoration-ending-20120713,0,7453729.story

That is a real shame, as its a great species, and i would love to catch one for myself. The problem is the river is not what it used to be. Having a fish ladder is not the same as having a natural flowing river. Our patches are not the same as a true river restoration, and "improvements" that we make are not for the fish but for us. Look at the flow rates on the rivers with dams around here and you will understand easily. Whats with the huge spikes in flow every day and then back to a trickle. nothing natural about that!!!!

ya salmon like clear fresh water and that 2 things the Connecticut river aint

The news about the CT lobster is disappointing too.

http://www.ctriver.org/programs/restoration/fish_in_trouble/index.html

This is a good article, and looking at there picture of all the blocked waterways its not a huge leap to understanding the problem!