Fishing and hunting have always been among some of the biggest past times in the United States and have become the biggest threats to wildlife. Unfortunately, this pastime has lead to the over hunting and over fishing of many species in the U.S. One such species is the Atlantic salmon, a staple at most seafood restaurants.

Currently, both the Atlantic and Pacific salmon are listed on the Audubon Society's red list, meaning that the fish are in severe trouble. Wild Pacific salmon have already disappeared from 40% of their historic range and the wild Atlantic salmon are now only found in the freshwater rivers of Maine. Most of the Atlantic salmon served in restaurants are farmed and raised in fish hatcheries; however, some illegal fishing of the salmon still does occur, mostly during their migration from the freshwater streams and rivers to the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Unfortunately, raising the salmon in hatcheries has done very little to help out the wild population. Most people have put their hope in saving the wild population in these hatcheries, but new evidence has suggested that the hatcheries are doing more harm than good. One of the main problems with salmon raised in hatcheries is that the salmon raised in captivity have very little genetic diversity and therefore when they are let back into the wild, they will mate with the wild salmon thereby diluting the gene pool.

There is hope for the Atlantic salmon however. In 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the wild population of Atlantic salmon as an endangered species. This act touched off a debate between the federal government and the state of Maine. According to the governor of Maine, listing of the wild Atlantic salmon will "severely regulate the irrigation use of the rivers" where the salmon spawn which will effect the amount of water available for the blueberry growers. Blueberries are Maine's other chief export.

By listing the wild Atlantic salmon as endangered, this also means there will be new laws and regulations in effect restricting the types of salmon that farmers are allowed to raise. About 90% of the state of Maine's aquaculture revenue comes from the sale of farm-raised Atlantic salmon, and Maine supplies about 25% of the fish to the East Coast of the U.S. Maine has been making progress in saving the species. In the mid 1990's, federal officials concluded that Maine's plans to save the species had been helping; however, the species still had the threat of disease and habitat loss to deal with.

Now that the Atlantic salmon has been declared an endangered species more steps can be taken to ensure the survival of the wild population. Clean up of the rivers on the East Coast is essential to the survival of this species and allowing companies to continue to dump toxic chemicals in the water introduces disease which threatens the survival of the salmon. The best thing we can do for this species is to stop ordering salmon when we eat at seafood restaurants and support legislature that forces companies to clean up the rivers that they once polluted.