Research Document 2018/043

Review of the Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) Monitoring Activities Associated with the Live Gene Bank

By Jones, R.A., Ratelle, S.M., Tuziak, S.M., Harvie, C., Lenentine, B., and O'Reilly, P.T

Abstract

This document is a synopsis of the Inner Bay of Fundy (IBoF) Designatable Unit (DU) Atlantic Salmon monitoring activities, undertaken from 2001 to 2016, associated with the Live Gene Bank (LGB) Program. All of the assessment activities heavily incorporate genetic analyses to evaluate the success of the LGB in preventing the extirpation of this endangered salmon population. Over the last 15 years, the activities have included and/or continue to include: 2 updated electrofishing surveys for juvenile salmon (2013 and 2014), annual smolt abundance estimates from the Big Salmon and Gaspereau rivers, annual adult abundance estimates to the Big Salmon River, annual counts of adult salmon returning to the Gaspereau River at White Rock Dam, a summary of annual LGB collections and distribution, and an assessment of a crossbreeding experiment in the Pollet River, a tributary of the Petitcodiac River.

In 2003, an assessment of the status of the IBoF Atlantic Salmon discussed severe declines in the population since the 1970s. A review of all the aforementioned assessment activities indicates that the pattern persists to this day. The genetic analyses discussed within this document and more in-depth in the accompanying documents (O'Reilly et al. 2018; Harvie et al. 2018) also reveal the dwindling presence of true IBoF origin salmon outside the envelop of the Live Gene Bank supportive rearing program.

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