A federal advisory committee has expanded its list of endangered Atlantic salmon populations, raising the alarm among conservation groups in Cape Breton.
They fear the change could lead to the end of recreational fishing for one of the East Coast’s iconic species in most of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says that is one possibility, but it’s not an inevitable outcome.
The change in assessment status was spelled out at federal fisheries meetings with stakeholders earlier this month, after the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) reassessed salmon populations, including those along the entire coast of Nova Scotia and throughout the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Cheticamp River Salmon Association president Rene Aucoin was at one of those meetings.
“Most of it was general information that we received, except for at the very end, where they dropped the bomb on us,” he said.
Aucoin said salmon populations on Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast are in trouble, but it’s a different story on the western side of Cape Breton Island.
“Over the last 10, 15 years, our rivers have been doing very well and in fact, in 2023, I believe that we probably had the strongest return of salmon in our rivers in 50 years and here we are two years later, we’re being designated as endangered,” he said.
“It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.”
Bill Hailey, vice-president of the Margaree Salmon Association, agreed.
He said salmon in New Brunswick’s Miramichi River are being devastated by a booming striped bass population, but the Margaree is in good shape.
‘This is just bad news’
“This is just bad news and it’s unfortunate, because it could have been good news for the Margaree, but unfortunately we’re being lumped in with some unhealthy rivers,” Hailey said.
COSEWIC is an independent advisory body of wildlife experts that makes recommendations to the federal government on species at risk.
Hailey and Aucoin say they’re worried the committee will recommend the government go a step further and add the Nova Scotia and southern Gulf salmon populations to the Species at Risk Act.
“If that happens, then recreational angling, even catch-and-release, is probably going to end,” Hailey said.
Officials say the process is long and complicated and it could be years before the species is listed as endangered under federal legislation.
DFO would be involved and consultation would include the public, conservation organizations, industry and First Nations.
But Aucoin said people are ready to argue against a permanent change to the salmon status, but the lengthy process is no comfort.
“I’m pretty sure there is time, but it’s like dropping the big bomb but it’s only going to explode in five or six years, so it’s still a big concern.”
Hailey said he hopes DFO will consider the effect on some salmon populations that are stable.
“It would be probably two to three years before it would actually come to pass, but we would like to nip this in the bud,” he said.
“We have a river here that’s very healthy.”
Robert Jones, DFO’s manager of biodiversity management in the Gulf region, said an endangered listing under federal law is possible, but it’s also a long way from certain.
DFO to consider science, socio-economics
“Decisions that will be ultimately taken to list any species or population under [the Species at Risk Act] consider all aspects of it, including the science advice, but also socio-economic factors,” he said.
“It’s too early to determine what’s going to happen with Atlantic salmon in terms of the listing process and we have to take into account a whole range of different considerations as part of a comprehensive recommendation to list, or not.”
But Jones said while the change in assessment is only the first step, it is serious.
“There is a conservation concern. I mean COSEWIC did assess these populations, and the population in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence in particular, as endangered for a reason.”
Jones said COSEWIC determined that genetic, behavioural and other biological studies have determined that the salmon on the east side of Nova Scotia belong to the same population as those on the west side.
But that doesn’t mean the rivers will necessarily be considered the same and it doesn’t mean a recommendation to list all those salmon as endangered under federal legislation is inevitable, he said.
“We will be looking at this on a river-by-river, place-based approach as we call it, so that’s something that is too early to determine what’s going to happen,” Jones said.
DFO launched an Atlantic salmon conservation strategy last year and is taking steps to rebuild fish stocks, but critics say it lacks sufficient funding.
Jones said COSEWIC will make recommendations to Environment and Climate Change Canada in the fall and the process will eventually take into account potential economic impact, conservation, social impacts and Indigenous perspectives.
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