Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 8 : Spring 2011 | Page 37

Atlantic Salmon for northern maine by Claudia G. Garland Fair is Fair Have you every enjoyed something so much that you would do everything possible to ensure its continued existence? It is that deep seated passion and dedication that by Dan finds a group of “County Anglers” paying it forward in the truest act of deed. With Atlantic Salmon facing worldwide extinction, this group knew they wanted the waterways of their youth to be restored. They sought an opportunity to bring back the day when rivers and streams would flow with the lifeblood of the land; imparting joy and adventure straight to the heart. Nestled on the snowy bank of the Aroostook River in Sheridan, Maine, lies the largest private, nonprofit Atlantic Salmon Hatchery in the world! How did they do it? This band of brothers knew what they had to do and did it by using their Aroostook County work ethic, by choosing to believe in their cause, and by joining together in the fellowship of teamwork to build what is today known as the Dug Brook Fish Hatchery and the lodge of the Atlantic Salmon For Northern Maine. Recently I was blessed with an invitation to tour the hatchery, enjoy some mouth watering food at the lodge, and engage Ladner in conversation equally as satisfying. Most of these “boys” receive social security benefits; however, their age has done nothing to diminish their youthful recall and exciting tales of fishing the Aroostook River. My tour starts. “We confess not so much in knowing what to do as much as we had the basics of what not to do!” We set out to find clean and cold water. Dug Brook gave just that. “The water is so damn cold, even the beavers won’t live there”! A statement I was soon to learn would be of great significance. “We needed pure, cold water, free of animal scat or waste, and boys, we just found it!” So it began, on the banks of the Aroostook River, gravity fed cold water flowed into the hatchery from Dug Brook at a flow rate of 124 gallons a minute. The water flows in a single pass having less chance for the spread of bacteria. The cold gravity fed water means no need for pumps or chillers. SPRING 2010 Atlantic Salmon 35 FALL 2011