Outer Bay of Fundy
The Outer Bay of Fundy Atlantic Salmon population includes all rivers from the Canada-U.S. border to the city of Saint John.
The Outer Bay of Fundy region once contained North America's most productive river, the St. John, but in 2019 only 700 salmon were counted at the Mactaquac dam near Fredericton.
COSEWIC estimated that in 2008 the outer Bay of Fundy population was made up of approximately 7,500 adults in just four of the 20 known salmon rivers, a decline of 64 per cent compared to 1993.
Since 1998 there have been no allocations for Indigenous salmon fisheries and no recreational salmon angling in Outer Bay of Fundy rivers. Other fisheries are still active and local stewardship is strong in parts.
A map showing designatable units of Atlantic salmon in DFO's Maritime region. Photo Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Tributaries below Mactaquac, like the Hammond, Oromocto, and Nashwaak still have hundreds, sometimes thousands of wild Atlantic salmon returning. These tributaries also have strong, well organized watershed groups like the Hammond River Angling Association, which carry out watershed-scale conservation work and have made it a goal to reopen a sustainable, well-managed Atlantic salmon fishery in southern New Brunswick.
A listing under the Species at Risk Act would extinguish this realistic hope and could affect other fisheries, while providing little to no conservation benefit. Fisheries and Oceans Canada has the legal and regulatory instruments needed to address the threats to wild Atlantic salmon in the Outer Bay of Fundy.