Backgrounder

For over a decade, Parks Canada, Fort Folly First Nation, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) have worked together to maintain the remnant wild Inner Bay of Fundy (IBoF) salmon population at Fundy National Park. Declared endangered under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, this population has been at risk of being extirpated (completely removed or absent from this area) since 2001.

These early recovery efforts succeeded in preventing the extirpation of the IBoF population. While the cause of the initial decline is considered to be complex, the key to reinstating a wild salmon run became clear through an innovative - and perhaps unexpected - partnership. Along with its original partners at Fort Folly and DFO, Parks Canada developed a pilot project to grow juvenile wild salmon from Fundy National Park in marine net pens operated by the aquaculture industry in the Bay of Fundy. When mature, the adult salmon are released back to their natal rivers to spawn naturally. Also, we have seen released adults survive to return again the following year which has recently contributed to 20-year high salmon counts in two park rivers: the Upper Salmon River and the Point Wolfe River.

This program is unique, both in terms of its approach to recovery and its partnership. Cooke Aquaculture and the Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association rose to the challenge for wild salmon and have worked passionately to establish the world’s first wild marine farm site dedicated to wild salmon conservation. Operated and equipped by Cooke Aquaculture, this farm grows only wild Atlantic salmon. Most of these fish are collected as smolt, or juveniles, from Inner Bay of Fundy rivers while some were raised to the smolt stage at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Live Gene Bank in Mactaquac.

Once the salmon mature, the adult fish are transported back to natal rivers and are released. They are regularly monitored and the information is collected and analyzed in order to continually improve our conservation approach.

Thousands of adult salmon have been released to multiple Bay of Fundy rivers already from this collaboration, and early results suggest their offspring have survived well in the wild, as expected.

This innovative and collaborative approach to species at risk recovery is redefining how government, Indigenous communities, private industry and academia can work together to achieve unprecedented conservation gains, while also providing opportunities for the public to connect to these efforts. Parks Canada is a recognized world leader in conservation. Through its Conservation and Restoration Program, we take actions to preserve national parks and contribute to the recovery of species at risk. In managing national parks, Parks Canada maintains and restores ecological integrity; they also provide Canadians with opportunities to discover and enjoy them.

PROJECT PARTNERS AND ROLES

With a mandate to protect Canada's natural heritage and foster public education and appreciation, Parks Canada has a responsibility to help the wild Atlantic salmon native to Fundy National Park rivers. As a founder of the Fundy Salmon Recovery project, Parks Canada researchers developed the concept at the heart of this unique collaboration – that wild salmon are better equipped to survive the longer time they spend in the natural environment.

Parks Canada helped build the strong partnership that is now returning hundreds of healthy, adult salmon to FNP rivers each fall.

Cooke Aquaculture

Cooke Aquaculture is a family-owned, vertically integrated, global seafood company with headquarters in Blacks Harbour, NB. Founded in 1985, Cooke has extensive knowledge and experience in growing Atlantic salmon through its entire lifecycle.

As a major partner of the Fundy Salmon Recovery project, Cooke Aquaculture is proud to be part of developing the world’s first marine farm dedicated to wild Atlantic salmon conservation. Cooke personnel (Kelly Cove Salmon and GMG) supplied and installed customized farm equipment and are the daily caretakers of the wild fish through feed and nutrition, health monitoring and equipment maintenance. Charlotte Feeds in St. George and Northeast Nutrition in Truro, NS are providing feed and nutrition expertise.

The Cooke Shoreland Transport team and trucking partners assisted Kelly Cove Salmon in the movement of fish as smolts from the river to the conservation farm at Dark Harbour, Grand Manan and as adult fish moving from the farm site back to their rivers.

The Fort Folly Habitat Recovery Program was initiated in 1993, focusing mainly on restoration projects surrounding local environmental issues. In 1998, the first meeting for the Inner Bay of Fundy (IBoF) Atlantic Salmon Recovery Team was held in conjunction with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for species at risk.  During this time the Live Gene Bank (LGB) was established to rescue remaining IBoF Atlantic Salmon at Mactaquac hatchery for reproduction survival and in 2001 COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) listed the IBoF Atlantic Salmon as endangered.

Since 2001, the FFHR Team has been involved with recovery actions on numerous IBoF rivers including but not limited to the Big Salmon River, the Upper Salmon river, the Pollett River and the Petitcodiac River/estuary.

The Fort Folly Habitat Recovery team includes biologists and field technicians who are involved with capturing the wild smolts and returning the adult salmon to the rivers.

The Live Gene Bank at the DFO facility at Mactaquac is critical to preserving native species like the endangered Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic Salmon. As the federal regulator, DFO and the Species at Risk (SARA) are involved in permits for fish movements and stocking and oversee several aspects of the project.

As the regulator of aquaculture activities in New Brunswick, the NB DAAF oversees activities at the marine conservation farm at Dark Harbour, Grand Manan and is a lead in fish health management for the project.

The Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association (ACFFA) is an industry-funded association working on behalf of the salmon farming industry in Atlantic Canada. The ACFFA was a founder of the recovery project with Parks Canada and continues to play an important project management and administrative role in the Fundy Salmon Recovery project, coordinating logistics across a large and diverse group of partners while always maintaining a focus on the fish.

The University of New Brunswick (Canadian Rivers Institute) researchers are doing “big picture” work studying the impacts of the river systems as salmon populations are rebuilt. Their work focuses on what’s happening to the river ecosystem as salmon are returning.

The Village of Grand Manan owns the Dark Harbour site where the Fundy Salmon Recovery conservation farm is located. The Village has granted use of the site to this project. Simply, without support from the Village of Grand Manan, this project could not happen.