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

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.

"These populations are truly in danger of going extinct," Mr. Keliher said.

The federal government listed Atlantic salmon as endangered on eight Maine rivers in late 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 fish returning to the eight targeted rivers. By 2002, the estimated number dropped to between 23 and 46. In 2004, it was between 60 and 113 fish.

The recovery plan, published in the Federal Register last week, 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.

It includes efforts such as conserving land to protect river watersheds and improving practices of salmon-farming operations off the coast of Down East Maine. Aquaculture carries threats of introducing fish diseases as well as weakening wild fish that breed with fish that escape their pens.

"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.

If fully funded, the plan would cost $35 million over three years. 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.