The West River Acid Mitigation Project

Since 2005, the West River Acid Mitigation Project has been mitigating the impacts of acid rain and, resultantly, increasing the annual production of wild Atlantic Salmon smolts between 300-400%. In 2016, the project enjoyed a major expansion, including the addition of a second lime doser, the development of a catchment (helicopter) program, the beginning of significant physical habitat restoration and directed scientific research projects. The West River is being developed as a model for the restoration of acid-stressed rivers in the region. Thus, it is imperative that we monitor the impact of restoration activities so as to: (a) refine and optimize restoration activities. Three of the most important monitoring activities involve annual springtime estimates of smolt abundance, our adult counting facility and juvenile electrofishing surveys. The funding requested in this application are for supporting the smolt estimation program and the adult counting fence.

Contact: Dr. Edmund Halfyard or Kris Hunter, 902-210-1475, eahalfyard@hotmail.com/nssasalmon@gmail.com