Science Response 2008/001

Status of Atlantic Salmon in Salmon Fishing Areas (SFAs) 19-21 and 23

Context

Atlantic salmon populations of the Maritimes Region have experienced over a decade of decline. Atlantic salmon commercial fisheries were closed by 1985. In-river closures of recreational fisheries began in 1990 in the inner Bay of Fundy and expanded to all outer Bay (SFA 23) and many eastern and southern shore rivers (SFAs 20 and 21) by 1998. In addition, Aboriginal communities have either reduced or curtailed their fishing activity. Many populations are extirpated, inner Bay of Fundy salmon (SFA 22 and a portion of 23) are endangered under the Species at Risk Act and the outer Bay of Fundy (western part of SFA 23) and eastern and southern shore salmon (SFAs 20 and 21) are being assessed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Eastern Cape Breton populations (SFA 19) have declined to a lesser extent. Previous to this document, the most recent assessment reports for Atlantic salmon in SFAs 19-21 and 23 updated their status to 2005 (Amiro et al. 2006; Jones et al. 2006).

Science advice on the status of salmon in SFAs 19-21 and 23 was requested by Fisheries and Aquaculture Management (FAM) on March 6, 2008. This advice is required in advance of 2008 Salmon Zone Management Advisory Committees (ZMACs), i.e., prior to April 15, 2008. ZMACs are the formal consultative forums at which DFO solicits input from stakeholders prior to developing the 2008 recreational salmon fishing plan. Given constraints in timing, it was decided to provide this status report through the Science Special Response Process. Two meetings were held by DFO Maritimes Science (March 20 and April 8, 2008) to review relevant and available information. This Science Response report is a product of those meetings.

Complete document (PDF, 1081 KB)

Accessibility Notice

This document is available in PDF format. If the document is not accessible to you, please contact the Secretariat to obtain another appropriate format, such as regular print, large print, Braille or audio version.