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The Bay of Fundy debates future of its disappearing salmon cont'd...

A distinct species

An essential factor supporting the listing is a preliminary study conducted by Dr. Eric Verspoor, a fish geneticist at the Fish Research Sciences Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen, Scotland. Using fish samples gathered from rivers in Atlantic Canada, Verspoor found that the Atlantic salmon in the inner Bay of Fundy contained an evolutionary heritage that was distinct from rivers in southwest Nova Scotia and the outer Bay of Fundy, including the St. John and St. Croix rivers. 

"We found that the salmon in the inner Bay of Fundy are genetically distinct from any group of salmon, anywhere," he says. "We are now pursuing the analysis in more samples to establish the full extent of the regional distinctiveness." 

Verspoor adds that the study neither supports nor dismisses research in Maine, which found that salmon in the eight rivers in Maine listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) have a distinct genetic makeup. Opponents to the ESA listing say the research is flawed, in part, because decades of hatchery stocking have created a "mongrel" species of salmon. 
Verspoor disagrees. "Some river stocks may have been changed by hatchery stocking but by no means can this be assumed," he says. "In some rivers in Europe where detailed historical studies have been made, geneticists have found that distinct river stocks continue to exist, despite heavy stocking of non-native hatchery fish over the last 100 years."

The Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, has spanned the North Atlantic since the end of the ice age, about 10,000 years ago. Young, first-year salmon, called smolts, migrate from their home streams in New England and eastern Canada to an open-ocean region between southwestern Greenland and northern Canada.

However, tagging surveys done in the 1970s suggests that the stock of the inner Bay of Fundy tends to migrate closer to home. 
Once salmon reach their feeding grounds, they fatten up on small prey like capelin and sand eels. Those that return to the rivers of their birth to spawn after one year at sea, called grilse, weigh about five pounds (2.2 kilograms). Female grilse produce relatively few eggs. Other fish that stay on their feeding grounds for two or three years earn the title of salmon. These grow ten pounds (4.5 kilograms) or more and the females carry more eggs than the grilse do. They are the valued brood stock that fuels the species. 

The survival of a salmon population depends on the fish's ability to return to its home river to spawn, because many of its physical and behavioral traits have been selected over generations for the survival advantage they provide in that particular stream.

Farmed and wild salmon

While populations of wild Atlantic salmon fluctuate naturally, scientists say other factors such as salmon farms may be driving the numbers to an all time low. Farmed fish, the argument goes, are bred for size and tameness, which could make them less genetically diverse and poorly suited for survival in the wild. If the farmed fish escape and breed with wild fish, they may reduce the ability of the offspring to survive. Surveys by the ASF on the Magaguadavic River in southern New Brunswick found that escaped farm fish outnumbered wild ones three to one. The spread of parasites and disease from farmed fish to wild ones is also at issue. On the Magaguadavic, researchers have found wild fish infected with infectious salmon anemia, a lethal virus found predominantly in salmon cages. Another concern is brown sea lice, also found in cages, which cover the salmon and eat its flesh.

The largest share of salmon farms in the Bay of Fundy is concentrated along the southern shores of New Brunswick, around the Fundy Isles. The commercial farming of salmon generates around $190 million to the province's economy and employs around 2,000 people. A new provincial government plan to revamp the industry will shift into full gear this summer, says Alain Bryar, a spokesman for the New Brunswick Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture. Measures include restricting areas for aquaculture sites, and imposing stricter monitoring measures for fish health. The plan also contains new codes to prevent caged salmon from escaping. The regulations will apply both to established and new operations, Bryar says.
Halse, of the New Brunswick Salmon Growers' Association, says when it comes to the decline of wild Atlantic salmon, fish farms are not the culprit. "There is evidence that there was a decline as early as 100 years ago, long before salmon farming came along," she says. 

She adds that the industry is working with conservationists and government officials to ensure higher environmental standards. As it stands, she says, anyone applying for a license to farm salmon must undergo a costly process that includes a detailed environment assessment. "To even get your foot in the door you have to spend anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 and that doesn't include equipment," she says. "These are not Mickey Mouse operations," out to destroy the environment. Unlike Maine, which allows salmon farmers to use European strains, Halse notes that New Brunswick uses only stocks native to the area. 
She calls the proposed listing of salmon, "inappropriate." Instead, she says, "We should take advantage of the industry's resources and expertise to design projects that work, rather than impose restrictions on [salmon] farmers without knowing if they will have a positive impact on salmon runs."

Dr. Fred Whoriskey, the vice president for research and environment for the ASF, which supports listing the salmon in inner Bay of Fundy rivers as endangered, says he is working with aquaculture interests to ensure a sustainable approach to salmon farming. 

"It's time we stopped circling each other like porcupines," he says. Although, he adds, "it won't be easy coming to an agreement on what constitutes this mythical Holy Grail of environmentally stable aquaculture."

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