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Updated: October 28, 2025

Film highlights intricacy of Penobscot Nation’s salmon restoration efforts

A person stands in water holding a fish. Still / Courtesy of Lokotah Sanborn, Sunlight Media Collective Chuck Loring Jr., Penobscot Nation Department of Natural Resources director, releases an Atlantic salmon into Penobscot Nation waters.
By Laurie Schreiber

Scientists with the Penobscot Nation’s Department of Natural Resource are collaborating with the state’s Department of Marine Resources and others to help bring Atlantic salmon back home to Penobscot Nation's waters.

A recently released short film, “Salmon for Maine’s Rivers,” documents the effort.

“This film idea grew out of discussions with Sunlight Media Collective around trying to get positive messaging out about our work amongst the Penobscot Nation Department of Natural Resources programs,” said Chuck Loring Jr., director of the Penobscot Nation Department of Natural Resources. “We decided to start with Atlantic salmon and fisheries because of the availability of several opportunities to film adult fish on Penobscot Nation lands.”

Three people stand in or near the water with a net holding a fish.
Still / Courtesy Josh Woodbury, Sunlight Media Collective
Penobscot Nation Department of Natural Resources staff release Atlantic salmon into the Penobscot River.

Sunlight Media Collective, which is based in Lamoine, Hancock County, is an organization of indigenous and non-indigenous media makers and activists, including Wabanaki tribal members. The collective documents and presents Wabanaki stories, with a particular emphasis on the intersection between environmental issues and tribal rights.

Acoustic transmitters

The film highlights the intricacies of the effort, which included catching 50 salmon, implanting them with tags and acoustic transmitters that transmit data such as whereabouts and body temperature when they swim past receivers, then releasing them back into the river.

Goals include improving passages for the fish’s ability to migrate and breed.

hands reach out ot a net that has a fish in it.
Still / Courtesy Josh Woodbury, Sunlight Media Collective
Penobscot Nation Department of Natural Resources staff release Atlantic salmon into Penobscot Nation waters.

The East Branch of the Penobscot has some of the best habitat in Maine and new England, the film says. Additional work includes looking at certain dams to assess fish passage and figure out ways to make fish passage better and to improve habitat where needed.

“Many of our partners know the capabilities of our department and the possibilities that exist within our programs, but the broader audience of conservation and philanthropic interests outside of what is now known as Maine are not as familiar with our work,” said Loring. “I am hoping this film will reach those wider audiences and inspire more conversations and collaborations, especially as we embark on the ambitious and meaningful work of land rematriation.”

Fish passage

The film shows the release of adult egg-bearing salmon into the river and follows the team of scientists who tracked and studied the fish. Penobscot Nation citizens share their perspectives on the importance of Atlantic salmon to their Tribe and describe their efforts to restore the native species, which is endangered in the U.S. and found only in a few rivers in Maine. 

Two people stand in the water.
Still / Courtesy Nolan Altvater, Sunlight Media Collective
Scientists Danielle Frechette with Maine Department of Marine Resources (left) and Dan McCaw with Penobscot Nation Department of Natural Resources search for evidence of salmon spawning in a tributary of the Penobscot River.

Historical threats to Atlantic salmon include dams, overfishing and pollution. Although pollution and fishing issues have been greatly diminished for many decades, delay, injury, mortality and poor passage efficiency at hydroelectric dams still plague restoration efforts, according to a news release.

There have been multiple studies and over 100 years of restoration efforts in the Penobscot River, including one called the Penobscot River Restoration Project. The efforts have demonstrated that free-flowing rivers provide the best opportunity for Atlantic salmon recovery, according to the release.

"And now we have a section of Penobscot that's free-flowing like my ancestors saw it," said Butch Phillips, a Penobscot Nation elder.

"Salmon Restoration on the Penobscot River" was awarded Best Documentary Short of 2025 at the Castine Film Festival, has screened at Penobscot Nation and at film festivals across the country and aired on Maine Public television. It is now available to watch online for free.

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