Implications of Sense of Place for Recovery of Atlantic Salmon and Other Native Fish

Over the past four centuries, humans have reshaped New England’s river systems to enhance capacity to transport raw materials, provide power, and accommodate roads. These activities have fragmented movement corridors for native migratory fish, and reduced the quality and quantity of critical spawning, rearing, and feeding grounds. As a result, the region’s once-dominant diadromous fish community is, as a whole, imperiled and several species sit on the brink of extinction. Their lack of presence poses a significant impediment to recovery efforts as it relates to motivating multiple human generations to invest in restoration of their habitat. To better understand contemporary motivators, we surveyed Maine residents about the nature of their connections to waterbodies and fish within their home turf. Due to frequent and customary interactions, this was the area expected to be most relevant to residents; for example, where they would be most likely to have established a sense of place, and be able to draw on social relationships to mobilize resources to restore or protect valued place attributes or waterbody features consistent with recovery of native fish. Findings suggest that residents value home turf waterbodies as places to escape from day-to-day stressors; however, the native fish community is not essential for this need to be met. We discuss how efforts to engage the pubic in native fish conservation can be made more relevant and therefore motiving by framing opportunities for engagement within the confines of contemporary senses of place and communicating the linkages between recovery and valued place attributes (e.g., health benefits of quality nature escapes).