Smolt survival risks in Maine salmon rivers

Maine's salmon rivers are subject to polluted effluents  and dumped and spilled wastes 

The images below  how Maine's salmon rivers with icons  representing the following pollution issues nearby: Auto graveyards,  brownfields  commercial and special waste  landfills, leaking underground fuel tanks, leaking above grouned fueltanks, marine spills, "mystery spills", non point sources, federal RCRA sites,  sanitary and industrial wastewater,  septage disposal sites, uncontrolled sites, underground injection sites, unsewered subdivisions, VRAP remediation sites and  hazardous and oil spill sites . See identity of icons at end of page

Dennys River area

Machias and East Machias Rivers

Machias River

Millinocket/East Millinockett

Narraguagus River

Lower Penobscot River/ Upper Penobscot Bay

Ducktrap River

Pleasant River

Lethal effects of Atlantic Salmon smolt exposure to aluminum-rich acidic waters - peer reviewed studies suggest similar conditions prevail at Penobscot River mouth.

Below, read a variety of scientific reports on the mortality of Atlantic salmon smolts exposed to acidified freshwater, brackish water and/or saltwater contaminated with dissolved aluminum. About Salmon smoltification 

 There is a general consensus among the scientific community that exposure of Maine salmon smolts to pulses of low pH water carrying dissolved aluminum triggers premature smoltification. 
The culprit appears to be accumulation of gill surface aluminum, "leading to substantial alterations in gill morphology, reduced gill Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) activity, and impaired ion regulation in both freshwater and seawater."

Are Penobscot  River's  Atlantic Salmon declines due at least in part to such acid/aluminum-rich water pollution in Stockton Harbor since the 1950s  in harbor waters  entering  the mouth of Penobscot River.  There on Stockton Harbor's Kidder's Point,  acid, sulfur and aluminum wastes have eroded, leached and plumed into the southwest end of  the harbor whose connection with  abandoned sulfuric acid, fertilizer and alum production complex on the harbor's Kidder Point. Tests since the 1980s document these conditions.

Consensus on adverse impacts.

The impact of this mixture of acid sulfur and aluminum on Atlantic salmon smolts has been well documented since at least the late 1980s by researchers in the USA, Canada, Norway and elsewhere.

Topical Searches

* Google Scholar Aluminum + estuarine
* Google scholar: aluminum + estuary +Maine
* Pub Med search on estuarine and aluminum

ALUMINUM - ACID - ATLANTIC SALMON  Listed by date.

* Water Chemistry and Atlantic Salmon Physiology. Source: Northeast Fishery Science Center 2015

* Recovery of Atlantic salmon smolts following aluminum exposure defined by changes in blood physiology and seawater tolerance in Aquaculture 362–363:232-240 · April 2012

Physiological, molecular and cellular mechanisms of impaired seawater tolerance following exposure of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, smolts to acid and aluminum  2010  UMass Amherst. Published in Aquatic Toxicology 99 (2010) 17–32

Trace metals in different Atlantic salmon (Salmosalar L.) organs from the River Storelva catchmentarea. 2009

* Migratory behaviour and survival rates of wild northern Atlantic salmon Salmo salar post-smolts: effects of environmental factors.  2009

* http://www.penbay.net/pb_upper/stocktonhbr/gac_hist/gac_dep_031698_history.jpg

* Impacts_of_short-term_acid_&_aluminum_exposure_ on_Atlantic_ salmon_Salmo_salar_physiology_A_direct_comparison_of_parr_and_smolts  Aquatic Toxicology 86(2):216-26 · February 2008 

* Exposure_to_moderate_acid_water_and_aluminum_reduces_Atlantic_salmon_post-smolt_survival December 2007

* Effect of aluminum on fish in acidic waters. A term paper submitted to
The Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management (INA)
Agricultural University of Norway, 2004 

* Effects_of_episodic_acidification_on_Atlantic_salmon_Salmo salar_smolts 2003

* Aluminium in acidic river water causes mortality of farmed Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar L.) in Norwegian fjords  2003

* Low concentrations of inorganic monomeric aluminum impair physiological status and marine survival of Atlantic salmon Frode Kroglund, Bengt Finstadb 31 October 2002,

* Effects of Acidity and Aluminum on the Physiology and Migratory Behavior of Atlantic Salmon Smolts in Maine, USA  J. A. Magee, T. A. Haines, J. F. Kocik, K. F. Beland, S. D. McCormick, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Vol 130, Issue 1, pp 881–886 August 2001, 


Other species 

* Bioavailability and toxicity of aluminium in a model planktonic food chain (Chlamydomonas–Daphnia) at neutral pH P. Quiroz-Vázqueza, D.C. Sigeeb, K.N. Whiteb, 2010 Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 1997 Jun;37(1):30-6.

* Trace metals in barnacles: the significance of trophic transfer. Sci China C Life Sci 2005 

*Toxicity of acid-sulfate soil leachate and aluminum to embryos of the Sydney Rock oyster.1997

* Toxicity of acid-sulphate soil leachate and aluminium to the embryos and larvae of Australian bass (Macquaria novemaculeata) in estuarine water. 1997

* Chronic effects of low ph and elevated aluminum on survival, maturation, spawning and embryo-larval development of the fathead minnow in soft water  1989

Watershed scale & chemistry studies of aluminum & acids' bio-impacts

* A sulfur-stable-isotope-based screening tool for assessing impact of acid sulfate soils on waterways.  Kieryn Kilminster A D and Ian Cartwright B C  2011


Human exposure to aluminum US ATDSR 2008

Seasonal and spatial distribution of metals in surface sediment of an urban estuary.  2008  Environ Pollut. 

* Canadian Water QualityGuidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life: Aluminum 2003

* Behaviour of aluminium and iron in acid runoff from acid sulphate soils in the lower Richmond River catchment Angus Fergusonl & Bradley Eyre J Austral Geology & Geophysics, 17(5/6), 193- 201  1999

* Acidification of an estuarine tributary in eastern Australia due to drainage of acid sulfate soils J Sammut, 1996. I White and MD Melville Marine and Freshwater Research 47(5) 669 - 684 1996

* Acidification signals in estuarine sediment cores Per Kristian Egeberg Agder College, Tordenskjoldsgt. 6 5, 4604 Kristiansand, Norway 1995

END