Thursday, October 13, 2005

For immediate release

St. Andrews – Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) researchers have discovered 38 escaped aquaculture salmon at the fish ladder in the Magaguadavic River so far this fall. Another 31 were found in the St. Croix River at the Milltown fishway. These rivers in southwest New Brunswick flow into the Bay of Fundy, which is home to 90% of all the aquaculture sites on Canada’s east coast.

“This is the largest influx of escaped farmed salmon that the St. Croix and Magaguadavic have experienced since 2001. We’re very concerned about their arrival and we wonder how many others have entered rivers that are not monitored“, states Bill Taylor, ASF President.

“In both rivers, the farmed escapes account for more than 80% of salmon returns this year. Only nine wild salmon have returned to the Magaguadavic, which, as recently as the 1980s, supported runs of 800 or more wild salmon annually,” continues Mr. Taylor. Farmed salmon compete with the wild for food and habitat, can spread disease and parasites, and are capable of breeding with them, resulting in offspring that are less fit for survival in the wild.

All aquaculture fish were removed from the rivers. Those recovered from the Magaguadavic are being screened for disease and parasites at a Canadian government lab, while tissue samples from the St. Croix fish are being analyzed by authorities in both Canada and the United States. The screening results will give researchers an indication of the health of the bay, which is important information for the aquaculture industry as well as for wild salmon conservationists.

ASF researchers have systematically monitored the movements of wild and escaped farmed salmon to the Magaguadavic since 1992 and conducted a variety of studies to document their interactions. The Magaguadavic is the North American index river for studying interactions between wild and farmed salmon.

Other rivers along the Bay of Fundy, in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, are listed under Canada’s Species at Risk Act because of the great declines in their salmon populations over the past two decades. The appearance of farmed salmon could further hasten those declines.

Mr. Taylor, adds, “This flood of farmed fish further highlights the need for government regulations to protect wild Atlantic salmon from the impacts of salmon aquaculture, something we have been advocating to the federal and provincial governments for many years.”

Earlier this year, ASF and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued the report, Protecting Wild Atlantic Salmon from Impacts of Salmon Aquaculture: A Country-by-Country Progress Report. ASF and WWF stressed the need for better containment of farmed salmon. The New Brunswick government and the aquaculture industry do not have regulatory requirements or a Code of practice for containment; nor do they monitor or report escapes or have contingency plans in place to handle escapes. The U.S. adopted containment standards in 2003 to minimize escapes and has escape response procedures in place.

Reliable containment and escape response plans are extremely important, especially in the Bay of Fundy. The Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Maine are parts of the same larger ecosystem and problems in one part of that ecosystem can quickly develop into problems in other parts. Escaped farmed salmon do not recognize international boundaries, hence aquaculture escapees from the Bay of Fundy are making their way into, not only the Magaguadavic and St. Croix, but also the Dennys River in Maine and are probably entering other Maine rivers where salmon are listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Mr. Taylor, concludes, “Wild salmon in all of these rivers are struggling for survival and farmed fish impact the efforts of volunteers and biologists who have toiled for many years to save these wild salmon. The Canadian government must follow the example of the U.S. government and put measures in place to better contain farmed fish and respond effectively to escapes”.

The Atlantic Salmon Federation is an international, non-profit organization that promotes the conservation and wise management of the wild Atlantic salmon and its environment. ASF has a network of seven regional councils (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Maine and New England) which have a membership of more than 150 river associations and 40,000 volunteers. The regional councils cover the freshwater range of the Atlantic salmon in Canada and the United States.

ASF Contact: Sue Scott, Vice President - Communications

506 529-1027 or 506 529-4581

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