Hundreds of Salmon Released into Petitcodiac Watershed to Restore Endangered Population

An Indigenous-led group released more than 800 mature Atlantic salmon into the Petitcodiac watershed during a single week in October as part of efforts to rescue the migratory fish from extinction. 

Amlamgog First Nation launched its habitat recovery program in 1993 in the wake of a widespread regional collapse of Atlantic salmon, a species known in Mi’kmaq as plamu.

The Inner Bay of Fundy population of Atlantic salmon is listed as endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

According to official estimates, their numbers fell from 40,000 a half-century ago to fewer than 250 by the turn of the millennium. 

The wild population is now seeing its numbers rebound for the first time in decades following efforts known as the Fundy Salmon Recovery project, which brings together Amlamgog with partners from several branches of government, along with the University of New Brunswick and industry.

They have pioneered a complex process that involves first collecting juvenile salmon in their wild habitat.

Those fish are spawned in captivity, and the product — young fish known as fry — are released into the wild, where they grow into smolts, ready to migrate to the ocean. At this point, some are removed from the watershed. 

Those fish are exposed to marine conditions in a “conservation farm” located in Blacks Harbour, Grand Manan Island. It's operated by Cooke Aquaculture, a privately-owned multinational which is headquartered nearby.

The results seem promising, but the role of a major fish farming company raises questions about whether open-net pen aquaculture is one of the factors harming wild populations.

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).