Organizations which are involved in the recovery of declining Atlantic salmon stocks on the East Coast have received a $600,000 funding boost from the federal government.
The Atlantic Salmon Federation is one of the groups which will share in the funding for research and conservation efforts.
Federation spokesperson Neville Crabbe says a tagging and tracking system in several rivers including the Miramichi and the Restigouche along with the Strait of Belle Isle will be expanded to include the Labrador Sea.
“When they (the fish) swim by these sonar arrays out in the water, they ping it so we get that data and we know where they have travelled from. We have receivers in the rivers and in the estuaries where the freshwater meets the saltwater and out at sea,” he notes..
In the 1970’s there were roughly two million Atlantic salmon compared to about 750,000 today.
Crabbe says a number of factors have led to its decline including overharvesting, warming waters, increased predators and industrial activity at sea.
