PORTLAND (AP) – Five years after Atlantic salmon were declared endangered on eight Maine rivers, federal regulators have released a recovery plan aimed at restoring salmon runs from the Kennebec River to the Canadian border.

The 325-page document lays out a strategy with nine key recovery actions, beginning with better protection of salmon habitat. It also lays out 13 threats ranging from acid rain to aquaculture operations off the coast of Maine and New Brunswick.

“To be successful, we’ll need everyone’s help and cooperation,” Mary Colligan, endangered species chief for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said Wednesday.

The federal government listed Atlantic salmon as endangered on eight Maine rivers in November 2000, saying the species is in danger of extinction.

Back then, marine biologists said wild salmon numbers were at an all-time low with only about 300 mature salmon returning to the eight targeted rivers. By 2002, the estimated number dropped to between 23 to 46. In 2004, it was between 60 and 113 fish.

While the long-term goal is for the number of wild salmon to begin growing, the immediate goal is simply to stop the decline, said Patrick Keliher, executive director of the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission in Augusta.

“These populations are truly in danger of going extinct,” he said.

The recovery plan, published in Tuesday’s Federal Register, targets wild Atlantic populations in the Gulf of Maine. That includes all rivers from the downstream portion of the Kennebec to the mouth of the St. Croix on the Canadian border.

The original endangered species listing affected only the Dennys, East Machias, Machias, Narraguagus, Pleasant, Ducktrap and Sheepscot rivers, along with Cove Brook, a tributary of the Penobscot River.

The final plan by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service lays out a recovery strategy, along with goals and criteria. If fully funded, the price tag over three years would be $35 million.

Already, about $6 million to $8 million is being spent each year on salmon recovery efforts and it’s unlikely that the federal government will increase funding substantially because of the current budget situation, he said.

Included in the plan are efforts already under way to conserve land to protect river watersheds and to improve practices of salmon-farming operations off the coast in Down East Maine. Aquaculture carries dual threats of introducing fish diseases as well as weakening wild fish that interbreed with fish that escape their pens.

The plan, prepared with help from the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, was revised after public sessions last summer. A team already has been established to implement the plan.

The final plan avoided lots of target numbers because the current numbers are too low to make any sort of projections. But the goal would be to see the replacement rate of adult Atlantic salmon populations on the eight rivers grow, if only modestly.

“It really is a stop-the-bleeding approach. Let’s make sure there are fish in all of those rivers, and make sure the number is going up over a five-year period,” said Pat Scida, endangered species coordinator for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

On the Net:

National Marine Fisheries Service: www.nmfs.noaa.gov

National Register: http://www.nero.noaa.gov/nero/hotnews/salmon/salmonfrp.pdf

Endangered species recovery plans: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/recovery/#fishes