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Shae Denny says it is “almost incomprehensible” that local conservation efforts in Cape Breton are being recognized on the world stage.
“It’s very meaningful,” said Denny, an aquatic programs manager with the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources, the environmental voice for Cape Breton’s Mi’kmaw community. “We’re stewards of the land and we’ve been here since time immemorial.”
The United Nations in December recognized a seven-year effort by scientists, Indigenous communities and local volunteers to rehabilitate the Atlantic salmon population in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
It named a Parks Canada initiative the recipient of a World Restoration Flagship — an honour given to the world’s most promising examples of large-scale ecosystem restoration, according to the UN’s website.
Launched in 2010, Respectful Returns is a Parks Canada collaboration with Indigenous and local communities to restore rivers and streams across the country. To date, the project has helped restore over 65,000 hectares of land and 228 kilometres of waterways across seven national parks.
Denny, who is from Eskasoni First Nation, noted that the Mi’kmaq recognized declining salmon stocks in Cape Breton as early as the 1950s, leading to the formation of a salmon advisory committee with Eskasoni Fish and Wildlife, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and local river associations.
“When we all come together, that’s when change can happen,” Denny said. “It creates a more holistic picture of conservation and management.”
Salmon survival
The restoration program in Cape Breton Highlands National Park got underway in 2019 following decades of steep population drops.
According to park ecologist Sarah Penney, surveys in the 1980s routinely counted around 75 adult salmon returning from their ocean migration each year. By the 1990s and early 2000s, that number had plummeted to roughly 10 because young salmon were dying before they were mature enough to survive in the open sea.
To turn the tide, Parks Canada and partner groups began capturing juvenile salmon from the Chéticamp River and Clyburn Brook each spring, raising them in captivity until they were strong enough to release back into the wild.
The hands-on intervention worked, with the number of spawning salmon meeting that conservation benchmark of 75 for the first time in 30 years.
“It was a couple of years ago we finally reached that threshold where we saw enough salmon in the river at spawning time that they could potentially be self-sustaining,” Penney said.
A group project
While Parks Canada accepted the flagship distinction in December, the agency held an event on July 16 to present certificates to four key groups in Cape Breton: the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources, the Atlantic Salmon Federation, and local salmon associations on the Chéticamp and Margaree rivers.
“I just don’t want to forget how important our partners are, and I want to make sure that they receive the recognition that they deserve for making this work possible,” Penney said.
Bill Haley, vice-president of the Margaree Salmon Association, said his group helped construct a smolt wheel on the Chéticamp River to capture and count migrating fish.
For Haley, being recognized alongside global initiatives — such as major reforestation projects in Papua New Guinea — is a milestone.
“It’s truly a global award,” Haley said. “When you see the type of work that’s being done, you feel pretty special to be included.”
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