Thursday, June 03, 2004

MEDIA RELEASE

Wild Atlantic Salmon in Crisis

Fisheries Experts Propose Strengthened International Standards

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA: Thursday, June 3rd, 2004 – Wild Atlantic salmon populations in Eastern Canada and the United States have dropped to historic low levels, according to an Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) report Status of North American Wild Atlantic Salmon, released today in Halifax. The ASF warns that in the absence of strong domestic and international government action, the population risks immediate extirpation in specific areas, and eventual loss throughout its range in North America.

Releasing the report, ASF president Bill Taylor gave some sobering figures. “Since 1974, we have gone from more than 1.5 million salmon to fewer than 500,000 today. This year, scientists project an especially disturbing decline in returns of large salmon to their native spawning rivers.” These rates of “return” are used to gauge the health of the population.

Using data from ASF and federal government scientists, Mr. Taylor gave an overview of the salmon returns in New England, the Atlantic provinces and Quebec. “Our most pressing concern is the salmon populations from rivers in the Bay of Fundy, the Gulf of Maine, and on Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast. The inner Bay of Fundy’s wild Atlantic salmon population is severely endangered. Incredible as it may seem, there are now fewer than 200 fish in the Inner Bay’s 32 rivers, down from 40,000 just 20 years ago. The populations returning to rivers in the outer Bay of Fundy are likewise under severe stress.”

“We have noted good rates of return in rivers like New Brunswick’s Restigouche and Miramichi, Cape Breton’s Margaree and some Newfoundland & Labrador rivers. This has to be tempered though by the advice from scientists who project a return of fewer than 100,000 of the precious larger salmon – particularly the egg-bearing females – to North America’s rivers in 2004. This number isn’t even half the total number needed to meet minimum conservation targets.” Mr. Taylor also noted that a 15 to 25 % decrease in large salmon returns to Quebec rivers is expected this year.

New England’s wild Atlantic salmon rivers aren’t expected to meet even 5 % of minimum conservation targets. Returns to the 8 salmon rivers in Maine protected under the Endangered Species Act numbered only 72 last year, which is actually an improvement over the 33 recorded two years ago. One single river – the Penobscot – comprised more than three quarters of the entire New England returns of 1,436 salmon in 2003.

Suggested causes of the decline include changing ocean conditions, acid rain, industrial pollutants, poaching & illegal by-catch, habitat degradation, and poorly-regulated salmon aquaculture practices. “Solving these problems requires habitat stewardship, research, and regulatory control of harmful industrial practices, all things that require government leadership and involvement,” Mr. Taylor noted.

Mr. Taylor explained that public perception and awareness are very important elements in determining the wild Atlantic salmon’s future. “When people go into a supermarket and see “Atlantic salmon” fillets selling for $4 per pound, they should know that these are all mass-produced products of today’s commercial sea-cage

aquaculture operations, and not the remarkable wild salmon that have traveled our rivers and oceans for thousands of years. Every wild Atlantic salmon is a natural treasure.”

“Issues that are important to the public are among the first to get political attention,” Taylor continued. “When the public values wild Atlantic salmon – as an economic asset worth $200,000,000 to Atlantic Canada and Quebec, as a cultural symbol and as a barometer of the health of our environment – then government will respond. This is particularly relevant in Canada, as we head into a federal election. However, there is also a vital international context that needs to be addressed and the Government of Canada can be a positive influence on other North Atlantic nations next week at meetings in Reykjavik, Iceland (June 7 to 11).”

An international body, the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) is comprised of North Atlantic nations that have Atlantic salmon rivers within their borders or that legally harvest salmon. Conservation policies based on scientific advice regarding the health of the salmon populations are formulated each year at a general conference in one of its signatory nations, with Fisheries and Oceans Canada representing the Government of Canada. At the 2004 conference in Iceland, ASF hopes that NASCO’s future mandate and direction will be discussed, and, if all goes well, that NASCO will see fit to create a Working Party to consult and consider ways to strengthen the organization’s salmon conservation mandate.

A report submitted to NASCO leaders by four fisheries experts provides recommendations that could remedy the Atlantic salmon crisis in North America and throughout the North Atlantic, where salmon populations have declined 50% in the 20-year lifetime of NASCO. ASF and World Wildlife Fund convened the report’s panel of authors and support their independent findings documented in NASCO’s Future: A Vision Statement. The authors (Dr. Wilfred Carter of Canada, Dr. Andy Rosenberg of the United States, Chris Poupard of the United Kingdom, and Bjornulf Kristiansen of Norway) advance a constructive and dynamic new vision and 11-point action plan to enable NASCO to more effectively protect wild Atlantic salmon from further decline. The authors acknowledge the progress of NASCO in meeting the organization’s original mandate established in 1983 of limiting high seas harvest of wild Atlantic salmon. However, they believe that NASCO’s ability to address other threats that include damage to salmon habitat, interaction between farmed and wild salmon, and increased mortality during the salmon’s ocean migration is constrained by the organization’s original mandate that limits its authority.

Mr. Taylor concluded, “The health of wild Atlantic salmon here in our region is tied to the actions of other nations. While we must take action locally to address domestic issues, such as loss of habitat, we must recognize the other challenges that extend beyond our borders. ASF knows from experience that the fate of the wild Atlantic salmon – in Canada, the USA, the UK or Scandinavia – will ultimately depend on an international solution by responsible governments. We want this year’s NASCO conference in Iceland’s capital to jump-start that process.”

The Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) is an international non-profit organization that promotes the conservation and wise management of the wild Atlantic salmon and its environment. ASF represents 7 regional councils which have a membership of 150 river associations and 40,000 people, throughout the North American range of the wild Atlantic salmon.

Contacts: Sue Scott, Atlantic Salmon Federation: 506 529-1027 or 506 529-4581 (switchboard)

Muriel Ferguson, Atlantic Salmon Federation: 506 529-1033 or 506 529-4581 (switchboard)

Back