In 2019, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans issued a document requiring DFO to balance the Atlantic salmon and striped bass populations in the Southern Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Since that time DFO has done nothing to comply with the Standing Committee report. Today, the population of Atlantic salmon is at an all-time low, and striped bass is at an all-time high. Science has shown that this imbalance spells doom for the salmon.
Stock Supplementation
Since DFO sold the South Esk hatchery, they have not participated in stocking the river at any level. They need to financially support the hatchery infrastructure and staffing of this facility to allow it to operate at maximum capacity with a fry stocking program and a robust smolt to adult salmon supplementation program. They also need to make sure that the permitting process for this effort meets the needs of this program.
Striped Bass
The striped bass population has grown from 5,000 to 1M+, whereas a population with a LRP of 30,000 and a target of 100,000 spawners is adequate to maintain a healthy ecosystem.
Striped bass eat salmon smolts as they migrate to the ocean. The dramatic increase in the striped bass population has resulted in decreased survival rate of smolts, from 70 percent to less than 10 percent in the SWM and 3 percent in the NWM.
For further details, please see the attached links:
MSA – Recovery Strategy 2020
Ministers Report 2015
Predators cause salmon populations in Miramichi River to hit record low.