ASF Rivernotes 16 Apr 2021

The travel situation is changing every day. In Atlantic Canada there was hope that the “Atlantic Bubble” would open in the next few days, but with new Covid-19 cases, especially in northwest New Brunswick, that has been put off until mid-May, or even later.

For those in Quebec, Ontario, and further west, getting into Atlantic Canada rivers is almost impossible. And in Quebec, with rising Covid-19 numbers, lockdowns are an increasing issue.

Internationally, there is still no resolution on Vaccination Passports in North America. Issues such as privacy, prevention of counterfeiting, and sharing data are all likely to slow things down. But international air travel needs some way to filter travellers, and both the industry and governments agree it is needed in some way.

In Europe, some countries are already using Covid-19 passports, and the European Union is looking at ways it might implement a wider, EU-wide system. It would appear that pressure to have an acceptable system will definitely increase, worldwide.

Iceland Requirements

Iceland has now said it will open up for those with vaccinations, but the requirements will make it difficult to visit those wonderful Icelandic rivers.

The Iceland Government will require of a vaccination certificate:

• Language must be Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, English or French. A certificate in another language may be valid if a translation stamped by a certified document translator accompanies the original document in one of the required languages.
• First name and last name (comparable to travel document).
• Date of birth.
• Name of vaccinated disease (COVID-19).
• Where and when vaccination (s) took place (date).
• Vaccination must be completed; see below for the number of doses required to complete the vaccination for each vaccine.
• Issuer of certificate (healthcare professional / institution), with signature and stamp if the international vaccination certificate.
• Name of vaccine or vaccines.
• Manufacturer of vaccine and batch number for all doses.

More about vaccines that have a marketing authorization from the European Medicines Agency: (name of vaccine; marketing authorization holder / manufacturer; number and interval of doses for vaccination to be considered valid)

• COVID-19 mRNA vaccine; Pfizer / BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH; 2 doses at least 19 days apart.
• COVID-19 Moderna Vaccine; Moderna Biotech Spain SL; 2 doses at least 28 days apart.
• COVID-19 AstraZeneca Vaccine (ChAdOx1-s); AstraZeneca AB; 2 doses at least 4 weeks apart.
• COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen (Ad26.COV2-S); Janssen-Cilag International NV; 1 dose.
• If different vaccines are used for the first and second doses, the period between doses applies to the previous vaccine used to make the vaccine valid without antibody testing.
• Note that although these certificates are valid at the Icelandic border for exemption from disease control measures upon arrival in the country, they do not necessarily apply in general to other countries.

Looking at Iceland’s requirements just brings up added questions. Does Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine count? Do others meet the criteria?

As to international flights, most airlines are thinking beyond the massive implosion of service they suffered. Now they are looking at expanding again.

But it all still requires international agreement on what documents will be required, and Covid-19 tests required, to make the international travel possible.

NSSA awards announced

The NSSA recently announced the winners of their annual awards and scholarship. The Margaree Salmon Association was given the Affiliate of the Year award for their leadership especially around SARA. Kathryn Smith, a Master’s Student at Dal working on temperature monitoring projects, was the recipient of the NSSA Scholarship Award, and Gerry Doucet from Antigonish was awarded the Dave Symonds award for his dedication and volunteerism.

You can learn more about the winners here

Sign up to be a member at https://nssalmon.ca and get regular updates from the NSSA.

Let the Fishing Begin

The fishing season opened on Apr. 1 in Nova Scotia and on Apr. 15 in Prince Edward Island.

While fishing is now open, neither province has a Kelt or Black Salmon fishery, except for scientific purposes, so care should be taken early in the season to avoid accidentaly hooking one.

Atlantic salmon fishing season should open in June on the Margaree. You can check out water on the Margaree with the live stream of the river from the Margaree Fish Hatchery.

To find out more about regulations and to purchase your licence please visit the province’s angling website.

NS: https://beta.novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/sportfishing-licensing

PEI: https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/information/environment-energy-and-climate-action/angling-resources-and-information-centre

A few years ago the federal government reintroduced fish habitat to the Fisheries Act.

Over the past few months the Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Program with DFO have been asking for engagement to refine several policies and practices that were introduced with these provisions.

Currently up for discussion are a new engagement framework, Cumulative Effects, Habitat Offsetting and Banking, Prescribed Waters and Works Regulations, Codes of Practice, and an updated Fisheries Act Registry.

Last week regional meetings and engagements began. Anyone is able to participate and help shape the direction of how the new Fisheries Act is managed and enforced. 

To learn more about how to get involved and to provide your input visit talkfishhabitat.ca .

There is an Apr. 30 closing date for input.

On Thursday the NB Kelt season opened, with river levels excellent. As expected, the water temperatures were cold.

ASF’s Nathan Wilbur and others, including personnel from partners Anquotum Resource Management and Miramichi Salmon Association, as well as some hearty volunteers, were capturing and tagging kelts on fishing season’s opening day on the NW miramichi April 15.

Fishing was excellent and the team tagged 26 kelts. Asf thanks its dedicated volunteers for helping out. Five had both satellite pop-off tags attached and acoustic transmitters surgically implanted. The other 21 kelts had only acoustic transmitters implanted. These large salmon will continue their migration to sea to swim off towards far ocean feeding grounds.

The river was full of life with smelts, eagles, and salmon.

Below is the water level graph for recent days at Blackville, on the Southwest Miramichi.