Research Document - 2010/064

Information on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from Salmon Fishing Area 16 (Gulf New Brunswick) of relevance to the development of a COSEWIC status report

By G. Chaput, D. Moore, P. Hardie, and P. Mallet

Abstract

This document presents information on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from Salmon Fishing Area (SFA) 16 of relevance to the development of the status report by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). SFA 16 includes 39 rivers and is located in DFO Gulf Region New Brunswick. Data are presented and interpreted relative to the following: biological characteristics, stocking of fish, area of occupancy based on juvenile surveys, indicators of adult abundance for monitored rivers, freshwater production based on juvenile surveys and smolt production, and factors which may be constraining Atlantic salmon abundance. Based on the data series from the Miramichi River, adult abundance was higher in the late 1980s and early 1990s than in the past decade. Juvenile salmon abundance indices rose to high levels as a result of changes in fisheries management in the 1980s which increased spawning escapements. Juvenile salmon abundance has started to decline as returns have declined but juveniles remain well dispersed in the Miramichi and densities are more than twice the abundances of the 1970s and early 1980s. The smaller southeast rivers have generally not met their conservation requirements and juvenile abundance remains low in these rivers reflecting lower adult abundance and possibly lower carrying capacity of the habitat.

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