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	Status of the Atlantic Salmon Restoration Program in Massachusetts by Caleb Slater Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Anadromous Fish Project Leader Despite higher numbers of salmon returning this year on both the Connecticut and Merrimack Rivers, shortfalls in the federal budget may affect the Atlantic Salmon Restoration Program in Massachusetts during 2005. We are waiting for the final budget numbers, due sometime in August, but it appears that the Salmon Restoration Program in New England could be facing cutbacks next year. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is taking a close look at the cost of maintaining salmon hatcheries in Bethel, Vermont and Nashua, NH. These hatcheries are the core of the salmon restoration programs on the Connecticut River and Merrimack River, respectively. Closure of either of these facilities would significantly reduce the restoration effort and signal the USFWS¹s withdrawal from 40 years of salmon restoration in New England. Whatever happens at the federal level, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife plans to continue rearing salmon at our Palmer Hatchery. This facility can produce about 1 million salmon fry- half the total we normally stock in Massachusetts. If we loose the participation of the USFWS, and the 1 million fry they supply each spring, we plan to discontinue stocking salmon most everywhere in Massachusetts except the Westfield River. The Westfield has unique attributes that make it our best choice for salmon restoration in Massachusetts: The Westfield joins the Connecticut River below the first mainstem dam at Holyoke- this creates a clear path for fish migrating to and from the sea. The Westfield River watershed contains the largest contiguous blocks of forest, the largest road less areas, and twenty years of salmon fry growth and survival studies identify the Westfield as the best salmon habitat in Massachusetts. Salmon restoration on the Westfield works- each spring returns of sea-run salmon to the Westfield River average 20% of the entire Connecticut River run. The fish ladder at DSI (the first dam on the Westfield) gives us the ability to trap returning salmon and enumerate other migratory fish entering the river (no other Connecticut River tributary in MA has a fish ladder). Public support for the program on the Westfield is high. The Division has good working relationships with groups active in the watershed like the Westfield River Watershed Association, the Wild and Scenic River Committee, the Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, and others. The number of local volunteers for fry stocking and fish passage activities is excellent, and we continue to add schools in the area to the Atlantic Salmon Egg Rearing Program (ASERP).