The last wild Atlantic salmon that return to U.S. rivers have had their most productive year in over a decade, raising hopes that they may weather myriad ecological threats.

Officials counted more than 1,500 of the salmon in the Penobscot River, home to the country’s largest run of Atlantic salmon, Maine state data show. That is the most since 2011 when researchers counted about 2,900 of them.

LINK (via AP News)