Conservation Efforts Credited by Highest Numbers of Wild NB Salmon in Over 30 Years – New Brunswick | The Canadian News

Researchers at the University of New Brunswick say the future looks brighter for the endangered Atlantic salmon population in the interior of the Bay of Fundy.

Kurt Samways, Parks Canada research chair in aquatic restoration, says researchers have detected more than 100 endangered Atlantic salmon returning to the rivers of Fundy National Park this year, the highest number since 1989.

It said in a university statement Tuesday that researchers this year have observed the largest hatched smolt brood in 20 years, with estimates of more than 4,000 smolts migrating from Fundy National Park to the ocean.

Samways says the increase is the result of the Fundy Salmon Recovery Project, which collects juvenile salmon, also known as smolts, that have spent their first years of life in rivers.

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The young fish are taken to a marine conservation farm on Grand Manan Island, NB, where they grow to maturity.

Samways says the fish are returned to their native rivers, where they naturally spawn.

This Canadian Press report was first published on October 12, 2021.