Miramichi River Environmental Assessment Committee

In 2025 MREAC will prepare an Atlantic Salmon Conservation Strategy on the St. Nicholas River and its three significant tributaries in northeastern New Brunswick. Local networking and stakeholder interviews will provide an insight to current levels of recreational angling, especially related to Atlantic Salmon as the target species. In addition to gathering available historic data on the Saint Nicholas River, MREAC will engage in temperature monitoring and complete in-stream fish habitat assessments along one-kilometer reaches. Maps will be provided on land cover, land use, geology, forest tenure and others as needed. An assessment of barriers to fish passage will determine the level of intervention needed and the removal of unused beaver dams during the spawning run. The conservation strategy will identify the suite of threats to fish and fish habitat and offer recommendations toward short or long-term solutions to limiting factors.
Project research will inform MREAC of other available data sets pertinent to the plan including that from industrial forestry, private woodlot harvesting, agriculture and other industry sectors. Significant effort will be applied to current water temperature monitoring on the main branch and the three significant tributaries. Water quality monitoring will include pH levels throughout the open water season to determine its potential as a limiting factor. Electrofishing will assess existing juvenile salmon (fry and parr) densities. Historic electrofishing results, if available, will be reviewed for a comparative analysis. A compilation of season long monitoring results and available historic data will contribute to a final Atlantic salmon conservation strategy. Short-term and long-term recommendations will focus on addressing threats and limiting factors to support Atlantic salmon stocks in future years.