Atlantic Salmon Restoration

"All available evidence indicates that salmon was
an extremely minor component of the prehistoric
resource base . . . The generally disappointing
resuts of the modern salmon enhancement
programs in New England may be due more to
the fact that salmon is not naturally abundant in
these waters than to historical and modern dams
and pollution . . . "
So wrote archaeologist Catherine Carlson (U.Mass.)
in 1988, contradicting Anthony Netboy's account
of the colonial salmon fishery. The evidence she
cites is fish bones found in aboriginal middens
(waste dumps) e.g. less than 2 per cent of bones
identified at one Sebago Lake site.

Both are quoted in John McPhee's The Founding
Fish (2002), the best new book on fish in decades . . .

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada)

"Don Phillipson" wrote in message
news:E6bQb.5720$Ur.335876@localhost...
"All available evidence indicates that salmon was
an extremely minor component of the prehistoric
resource base . . . The generally disappointing
resuts of the modern salmon enhancement
programs in New England may be due more to
the fact that salmon is not naturally abundant in
these waters than to historical and modern dams
and pollution . . . "
So wrote archaeologist Catherine Carlson (U.Mass.)
in 1988, contradicting Anthony Netboy's account
of the colonial salmon fishery. The evidence she
cites is fish bones found in aboriginal middens
(waste dumps) e.g. less than 2 per cent of bones
identified at one Sebago Lake site.

Both are quoted in John McPhee's The Founding
Fish (2002), the best new book on fish in decades . . .

The entire article by Catherine Carlson is at
http://www.cr.nps.gov/aad/cg/fd_vol8_num3-4/salmon.htm

Don Phillipson wrote:

"All available evidence indicates that salmon was
an extremely minor component of the prehistoric
resource base . . .

Interesting article that seems credible. However, it is still obvious
that they were MUCH more plentiful than they are today.

Willi