In Atlantic salmon fight, Greenland proves a sticking point

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Preventing the long-imperiled Atlantic salmon from disappearing from American waters will require the U.S. to put pressure on Inuit fishermen in Greenland to stop harvesting a fish that has fed them for hundreds of years, federal officials say.

The salmon were once found from Long Island Sound to Canada, but their population has cratered in the face of river damming, warming ocean waters, competition for food with non-native fish and, officials say, continued Greenlandic fishing.

[...] federal officials have outlined an ambitious plan to try to save the Atlantic salmon that they say will require removing dams, creating fish passages and fostering cooperation from Inuit fishermen some 2,000 miles away from Maine, where most of America's last wild Atlantic salmon spawn.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said the final remnants of the wild Atlantic salmon population in U.S. waters live in a handful of rivers and streams in central and eastern Maine.

NOAA issued a report in February that identified the salmon as one of a handful of species listed under the Endangered Species Act that need "immediate, targeted efforts" to stabilize their populations and stave off extinction.