Something Caught on Fishing Line

Something Caught on Fishing Line

Something is caught on a man's fishing line. He pulls the rod up. He stands in a jumble of granite rocks at the edge of a Maine stream.

Kosti Ruohomaa photographed a group of men sport fishing for salmon in a Maine river. In this photo series, they cast their lures into a beautiful rocky stream bed, chat with each other, and a Maine Game Warden checks in.

Wabanaki have been fishing for salmon in Maine rivers for thousands of years. Atlantic Salomon are anadromous, so they swim upstream in the fall to lay their eggs in freshwater lakes and ponds. These eggs hatch the following spring, and the young fish remain in fresh water for several years before they develop the ability to regulate salt in their body, which makes it possible for them to live in ocean water.   Salmon spend from one to three years as adults in the oceans growing and gaining strength for a difficult upstream journey to breed in the waters they were spawned in.

Historically, both Wabanaki and European settlers used weirs or nets to catch salmon during their upstream migration, and large healthy populations made Salmon a bountiful food source.  However, human activity in the last couple of centuries has badly harmed the ecosystems salmon rely on, drastically reducing their numbers.  Among other factors, extensive dam building has severed the connection between fresh and salt water which is essential for their life cycle.  As of 2024, Atlantic salmon are a protected species, listed as endangered, and their fishing is prohibited.   A wide range of public and private organizations are working to restore Atlantic Salmon populations through “improving connections between ocean and freshwater habitats,” research, and raising salmon in hatchery programs.
Atlantic Salmon, NOAA Fisheries, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/atlantic-salmon-protected (accessed June 22, 2024)