In 1967, the federal government and state wildlife organizations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire began collaborating to restore Atlantic salmon using individual fish from Maine. Adult salmon attempting to spawn were trapped and relocated to hatcheries for use in a captive breeding program aimed at maximizing the production of young, known as fry. The resulting fry were then released into streams by the millions.

The program faced significant challenges from its outset. The Connecticut River that the salmon were being returned to was not the same river they once inhabited. Hydroelectric dams, like the ones in Holyoke and Turners Falls, were a barrier to migrating fish. Salmon are champion migrators, but they don’t reproduce in the mainstem of the river the way fish like American shad can. They need to reach cold, shallow streams in order to reproduce.

— Peter Vancini,  pvancini@valleyadvocate.com