Local hatchery celebrates World Fish Migration Day

ORLAND, Maine (WABI) - Across the globe people are joining together to celebrate World Fish Migration Day.

A celebration of sorts took place close to home, at the Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery in Orland.

Connecting rivers, fish, and people. That's the goal of World Fish Migration Day.

"Here in Maine we are really blessed to have, actually, really great populations of migratory fish," explained Fishery Biologist, Denise Buckley.

On Saturday, more than 2,000 organizations across the globe held events to celebrate the migration of fish.

It's a day that helps shine a light on the importance of our bodies of water.

"A lot of people are aware of bird migrations, you know, we all see the geese migrating. We know that monarch butterflies migrate, but one of the biggest migrations that happens, happens out of our sight," said Buckley.

"These migratory fish are there in different stages using the rivers, the oceans, the lakes, all these waters, and unless you happen to fish for them or encounter them during their migration, you may not know anything about them, so we hope that people understand more about the environment that they live in," explained Fish & Wildlife Biologist, Steven Shepard.

Biologists at Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery in Orland say that many migratory fish species are threatened. The main causes are man made obstacles like dams, which disrupt the natural flow of rivers and fish migration- making it crucial for them to migrate in order to complete their life cycles.

The goal of the event in itself, is to get visitors here to gain appreciation of what might not always be in front of them.

"If you can get to a place like this and see fish up close, it's quite a different experience. If you're not an angler and you don't handle a lot of fish, but if you can come here and see some of the big salmon that we have, and get a sense of our big some of these fish can actually get in real life, it's really impressive and it makes an impression on people," said Buckley.

For more information visit: https://www.worldfishmigrationday.com/.

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