Down East Books
Pages: 240
•
Trim: 6 3/8 x 9 1/4
978-1-60893-408-9 • Hardback • July 2015 • $22.95 • (£15.95)
978-1-60893-410-2 • eBook • July 2015 • $9.99 • (£6.95)
Catherine Schmitt is an environmental scientist who has conducted water-quality research in Maine and done work in the red maple swamps of the Connecticut River Valley. She is communications coordinator for Maine Sea Gran and conveys research findings and information about ocean and coastal issues to both public and commercial audiences. A frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines, she lives in Bangor, Maine.
The Penobscot Salmon Club, comprised of Maine recreational fishers, presented the U.S. president with the first Atlantic salmon caught each spring from 1912 to 1992. Schmitt ties the annual presentation to an account of the health of the Penobscot River salmon fishery from abundance to decline and then revival in the 1990s. Battles among conservation and environmental interests and large corporations, state and federal fishery management groups, and loggers and mill owners are described. The book combines information on developments on the world and national scenes with updates on the status of salmon populations in Maine rivers and traces changing attitudes of governmental bodies on fishery regulation. A discussion of hatcheries and their effect on wild populations is included. Notes at the end of each chapter and a selected bibliography provide further information. VERDICT Conservation-minded readers who enjoyed Paul Greenberg’s Four Fish, those interested in natural history, fishers, and both Maine residents and visitors will appreciate this well-written work.
— Library Journal