Why the population decline?
The last century has not been easy on the inner Bay of Fundy salmon. Adapted over thousands of years to individual rivers around the upper Bay, these salmon have had to contend with an ongoing series of challenges. There was the logging and shipbuilding frenzy of the early 1900s, with small dams, log drives, sawdust, dirt and grass clogging up the rivers. Since 1900, populations have dropped by over 99 per cent.
Salmon continued to lose freshwater habitat to the construction of dykes, causeways and dams through the 1950s and 60s. These barriers effectively blocked the fish from swimming upstream to lay their eggs, cutting down on the overall salmon population of the upper Bay. The Petitcodiac River, for example, once accounted for 20 per cent of the known productive freshwater habitat for the inner Bay of Fundy salmon. Today, it is virtually deserted of wild salmon.
Upper Bay salmon have also faced the poisonous run-off of pesticides and fertilizers from farms, forestry operations, and local back-yards; as well as erosion and sedimentation from the clearing of fields, and the construction of roads and homes.
But, even in rivers that are relatively protected from human impacts, salmon populations have continued a steep decline. In Fundy National Park, for example, populations have dropped by more that 90 per cent since 1985.
A Wider Context of Atlantic salmon at risk
Mortality at sea may be the major single issue impacting wild Atlantic salmon, most especially in the southern portion of their range. In Maine, Atlantic salmon in most rivers, including the Penobscot are now declared endangered. read more
In November 2010 COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) both confirmed the endangered species status of inner Bay of Fundy Rivers, but made an assessment that other population segments were endangered including:
Outer Bay of Fundy rivers (Saint John R. to St. Croix R.)
Southern Uplands rivers of Nova Scotia (Annapolis R. to Canso Strait)
Eastern Cape Breton rivers
Anticosti Island rivers
To read more about the new COSEWIC assessments for Atlantic salmon populations outside the inner Bay of Fundy, click here.
Photo: Bill McMullon