Attention all Atlantic salmon anglers. “Wild Salmon Unlimited,” a newly formed society has a mission: to fund the restoration of the “king of fish” to their native rivers. Its motto: “from the wild to the wild” tells how it will be done. Salmon will be captured from healthy rivers, their eggs and milt removed, married in hatcheries then raised to smolts (juvenile salmon) and released to the wild. Some, known as grilse, will return after one year—others later.
A harbinger of environmental conditions in our rivers and lives, an important economic resource and a food fishery for our First Nation’s peoples, Atlantic salmon numbers are plummeting. Acid precipitation, aquaculture, poor agricultural and forestry practices, climatic change, poaching, high seas mortality and commercial fishing are just some of the reasons for the decline. But the primary cause is that, years ago, following the closure of the commercial Atlantic salmon fishery, Fisheries and Oceans Canada absconded its mandate to manage them. It’s horrendous for, right now, initiatives are well underway to place the salmon of many Atlantic Canadian rivers, especially in southern New Brunswick, mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, on the “Species at risk list.” Others have already been listed.
Wild Salmon Unlimited will help change that. How? By raising funds to support hatcheries, governments, and other like-minded organizations in their efforts to restore wild Atlantic salmon and make it, once again, an essential element of our region.
For membership queries and other information: visit:
www.wildsalmonunlimited.ca e-mail: jw.murray@live.com
or write:
Wild Atlantic Salmon, 9378 Cabot Trail, Margaree, Nova Scotia, BOE 1Y0