Restoring Atlantic Salmon to the Petitcodiac River: An Inner Bay of Fundy Wild Salmon Recovery Project.

Our proposed project involves capturing smolt from Petitcodiac tributaries, rearing them to maturity at sea, and returning mature adults to their spawning grounds to produce the next generation. Key benefits to this project include the capacity to produce large numbers of mature adult salmon through salt water rearing that will produce highly fit offspring that have never been exposed to captivity. The combination of improved fitness through the reduction of captive exposure and the capacity to produce large wild smolt runs, via large adult releases, could affect the recovery potential for this population by addressing the limiting factor of low marine survival and depressed population phenomenon. Our project is part of a larger plan in partnership with Fundy National Park and the Atlantic Canada Fish Farmer’s Association and has gained the support of the iBoF Recovery Team and Planning Group.

Contact: Tim Robinson or Wendy Epworth, 506-379-3400, timrffhr@nb.aibn.com or wendy.epworth@rogers.com