Supporting More Than Salmon

The new fish passage at the Upper Collinsville Dam on the Farmington River. Image Credit: Tom Chrosniak

Historically the Connecticut River supported one of the largest annual runs of Atlantic salmon in North America. The majestic, silvery leapers ran up the river as far north as Pittsburg, New Hampshire, and used every major tributary between there and Long Island Sound to spawn, including the Salmon, Farmington, Westfield, Deerfield, West, Ashuelot, White, Ammoonsuc, Passumpsic, Nulhegan rivers—and many more. However, when we built dams to power our mills, we created barriers that blocked the fish from reaching their spawning grounds, and the species disappeared entirely from our river by the War of 1812. That trend repeated itself throughout New England and throughout the native range of the salmon on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. By the time of the awakening environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s, there were only a handful of small streams in Maine that still had wild, native Atlantic salmon, and a call was raised to restore runs of this iconic fish back to New England waters.

The story of the Connecticut River Salmon Association (CRSA) is linked to that effort. A restoration program began in 1967 as a handshake agreement between fish and wildlife agencies of the four basin states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire) and two federal agencies. Over the next forty years, the Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon Restoration Program grew to include a handful of federal and state fish hatcheries, and involved the stocking of millions of young salmon and building of expensive fishways to help the returning adults get around the dams.

The CRSA was formed in 1973 as a private sector way of supporting and promoting this government collaboration. One of the group’s first activities was to intervene in the re-licensing process of hydroelectric dams on the river. Even though the dams blocked one of the largest American shad runs in the nation, the dam owners were resisting installing fishways to allow fish to move upstream. The CRSA worked with government agencies to press for improved fish passage at the Holyoke Dam and new fishways at the dams at Turners Falls and upstream. The new hydro licenses included conditions requiring those fishways; this was a huge success and allowed the young salmon restoration program to move forward.

(L-R ) Richard Buck, Committee on the Atlantic Salmon Emergency and Restoration of Atlantic Salmon in America; David Egan, President of CRSA; Orri Vigfussion, the North Atlantic Salmon Fund, at the Connecticut River Salmon Association dinner, 1994. Image Credit: Jack Kinnear

The program, though, needed a more formal framework to manage restoration among the various government agencies. Advocates envisioned a multi-agency commission authorized by the US Congress to work cooperatively with all of the individual state and federal agencies to guide the program. To create such a commission—the first of its kind—authorizing legislation had to be passed by each individual state legislature, and then complementary legislation had to be passed by Congress. This took a great deal of time and energy, and the CRSA was in the forefront of that campaign, lobbying elected officials beginning in 1979.

Finally, in 1983, all legislative bodies passed the so-called Compact Legislation, and President Ronald Reagan signed it into law in October, thus creating the Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon Commission (CRASC). The Commission consisted of one public (government) commissioner, one private sector commissioner from each state, and a commissioner from both the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. David Egan, the president of the CRSA at the time, was appointed by Connecticut’s governor William O’Neill to serve as that state’s private sector commissioner, and at its first meeting the commission elected him as its first chairman.

Perhaps little understood is that from its beginning, the CRASC was authorized to oversee the restoration of all migratory fish species, including American shad, river herring, sturgeon, etc. The Atlantic salmon was the high-profile species that excited the public and was part of the commission’s name, but throughout its history the CRASC worked to restore and conserve all migratory (or diadromous, meaning fish that spend a part of their lives in both salt and freshwater) fish species.

CRSA was there every step of the way. The private sector representative from Connecticut to CRASC has always been the president of the CRSA, and CRSA members from other states represented their states on the commission. CRSA developed close working relations with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP, and later, the DEEP) and the fishery agencies in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire, providing manpower to help carry out the work of the commission. Among other things, this included providing critically important volunteers who helped stock young salmon fry throughout the watershed. CRSA also worked with state and federal agencies to support regulations and enforcement for clean water and conservation of instream fish habitat. Actions that promoted good salmon habitat also helped other species, notably trout, which live in the same waters as salmon. CRSA also worked to lobby for stronger budgets for the government agencies.

Tom Fitzgerald, CT DEEP-Fisheries, displays a Connecticut broodstock Atlantic salmon at the Kensington Hatchery. Image Credit: Tom Chrosniak

The Connecticut River program coincided with similar efforts elsewhere in New England on rivers such as the Merrimack (New Hampshire/Massachusetts) and Penobscot (Maine). The CRSA banded together with other regional and watershed groups to support Atlantic salmon restoration throughout the region. Early on, however, a distant threat was recognized.

A rapidly escalating net fishery off the west coast of Greenland (where US Atlantic salmon feed) was intercepting many of New England’s salmon, hindering the restoration efforts. New Englanders led the charge, along with like-minded Canadians and Europeans, to stop the unregulated high seas fishery, but an inshore net fishery continued to take salmon from many nations.

An international body that would limit this activity was needed. CRSA joined the effort to work for such a body starting in the mid-1970s, and in 1983 the group of nations ringing the North Atlantic Ocean signed a treaty that created the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO). This international commission, headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, sets quotas for mixed stocked salmon fisheries and promotes the sound management and conservation of Atlantic salmon throughout its range.

The CRSA has always been represented at NASCO annual meetings. David Egan, and later Robert Jones (another past president of CRSA), were sequentially appointed by the US President as one of three US Commissioners to NASCO, and current CRSA board member Steve Gephard holds that appointment. CRSA has played important roles in the conservation of Atlantic salmon at the state, watershed, national, and international levels.

The formal program to restore a self-sustained run of Atlantic salmon to the Connecticut River ended in 2012 due to government budget cuts and disappointing returns. One might ask if there is still a need for the CRSA. The organization responds with a resounding yes! There is so much to do to promote salmon conservation, education, and research. The State of Connecticut (DEEP, Fisheries Division) still stocks some Atlantic salmon in the watershed as part of its Atlantic Salmon Legacy Program, and the CRSA is a proud partner in this redefined endeavor.

Salmon-in-Schools Program

Salmon-in-Schools Atlantic salmon fry prepared for student release. Image Credit: CRSA

Educating young students about environmental conservation and aquatic ecology is critically needed if we expect future generations to be sound stewards of our watersheds. The CRSA and DEEP borrowed an idea from the Atlantic Salmon Federation in Canada and developed its Salmon-in-Schools program in 1995. DEEP’s hatchery always had some salmon eggs that could be dedicated to education, but its staff lacked the time and resources to support an educational program. That’s where the CRSA stepped in.

The CRSA recruited schools (elementary, middle, and high) to operate chilled fish tanks in classrooms. Each winter CRSA volunteers assemble at the hatchery at designated times to transport 200 fertilized salmon eggs in insulated water jugs to each participating school. The classes hold the eggs in the chilled water, collect data, project hatch dates, and upon hatch out in April or May, they transport their tiny fry to designated streams in the watershed to release them. The CRSA helps develop supporting curricula, distribute maps and posters, and set up tanks, and provides technical assistance and overall coordination.

Farmington River salmon smolt
leaving via the Connecticut River for Greenland. Image Credit: Ken Sprankle, USFW

Even now in the era of the Legacy Program, this program continues to be very popular among schools. Currently there are fifty to fifty-five schools participating with sixty-five to seventy-five tanks in use, reaching thousands of students. These students receive a unique view through the eyes of their Atlantic salmon into the challenges that all migratory fish face while navigating both the freshwater and saltwater ecosystems. During its nearly thirty-year run, this program has reached many thousands of students and, indirectly, their families. There is an annual orientation session in central Connecticut in October that prepares teachers for the upcoming season (December through May). Due to the limits on available eggs, this program currently is available only to Connecticut schools. Teachers who wish to enroll their schools in this program should contact the CRSA by mid-September (salmoninschools@ctriversalmon.org).

Meeting Future Conservation Needs

There are many reasons why the CRSA continues to be an important member of the conservation community. First, the last hope for wild Atlantic salmon in the US is in Maine, where the species is listed as “endangered” under the federal Endangered Species Act. The CRSA strongly supports the National Recovery Plan for Maine as well as the efforts of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, the Downeast Salmon Federation, and Indigenous peoples as a way to prevent the species from disappearing from our nation. The CRSA also lends its voice at NASCO for sound management of Atlantic salmon worldwide.
To support salmon recovery, we also need to rebuild runs of other migratory fishes like shad, river herring, sturgeon, sea lamprey, and eels. Research has shown that these coevolved species are codependent and our rivers need abundant runs of all for them to thrive. Many of the actions taken for one species (like dam removal) will benefit many other species.

Hartland School teacher Deb Costolnick and her students celebrate a successful Atlantic salmon fry release as part of the Salmon-in-Schools program. Image Credit: Tom Chrosniak

CRASC has changed its name to the Connecticut River Migratory Fish Restoration Cooperative (CRMFRC), but the CRSA decided not to change its name and continues to be a champion for all diadromous fish species. There is no other watershed-scale conservation group that advocates for migratory fish in the Connecticut River watershed, and the CRSA will fill that niche while retaining a seat at the CRMFRC table, speaking up on hydro-relicensing, and advocating for open, clean streams with healthy fish habitat.

During these changing times, the CRSA actively seeks an expanding membership, both in terms of numbers and places of residence. Members don’t even have to live in the watershed. If you care about the Connecticut River migratory fish community and Atlantic salmon, the CRSA would love to have you join it and add your voice. Visit the website at ctriversalmon.org to learn more and click on the button to join. Also, save the date of Saturday, January 11, 2025, to attend the 47th annual dinner to be held in Berlin, Connecticut, to join in on the festivities that include a great buffet, speakers, auctions, and raffles to benefit the organization’s activities.

CRSA 50th Anniversary Dinner recognized President’s Awardee’s (left) David Egan, 2024, and Steve Gephard, 2023. Image Credit: Julie Bidwell Photography.

Steve Gephard is a fish biologist recently retired from the CT DEEP Fisheries Division. He is a US Commissioner to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization.