Question Period Note: Wild Atlantic Salmon

Wild Atlantic Salmon

Our government is committed to making new investments and working with Indigenous people, provinces and stakeholders to restore and rebuild wild Atlantic salmon populations and their habitats.

To this end, we will work with all interested parties in the development of a new conservation strategy which will advance objectives outlined in the Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Policy, and support its overall goal.

The progress report on the Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Implementation Plan 2019-21 will be publicly released early this year. In the meantime, we are continuing to engage Indigenous organizations and stakeholder groups to inform the development of the Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Strategy.

If Pressed on Listing under the Species at Risk Act
My department is developing advice on whether or not to list several Atlantic salmon populations under the Species at Risk Act. We checked in with Indigenous groups, provinces and key stakeholders in November 2020 and provided an update on the decision-making process. Feedback received during this check-in process is under consideration and will inform the final listing decisions.

If Pressed on timing of decision whether to list Atlantic salmon
There are many considerations that go into listing recommendation that will be made to the Governor in Council. We are conducting the analysis as quickly as we can.

• The 2021 mandate letter calls for the Minister to work in close collaboration with provincial and territorial authorities, Indigenous partners, fishing and stewardship organizations and implicated communities to make new investments and develop a conservation strategy to restore and rebuild wild Atlantic salmon populations and their habitats.
• Engagement has been initiated to discuss the conclusion of the Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Implementation Plan 2019-2021 and the path forward. Stakeholders are seeking improved coordination and communication by the Department, further opportunities for partnership and collaboration, a strategic plan for Atlantic salmon to address science, management, and policy gaps, and increased funding to support conservation work on-the-ground. Stakeholders have also communicated their awareness of significant funds for the conservation of Pacific salmon included in Budget 2021.
• On June 25, 2020, the Atlantic Salmon Federation released its State of the State of Wild Atlantic Salmon Report, which indicates returns to North America in 2019 were among the lowest in a 49-year data series, and called for more inter-governmental coordination and collaboration with stakeholders.
• Atlantic salmon are a highly migratory species that spends one to three years in freshwater, followed by one or two (or more) years at sea before returning to spawn in the freshwater rivers in which they were born. Unlike Pacific salmon, Atlantic salmon can return to sea after spawning to repeat the migration and spawning pattern several times.
• Currently, the value of the recreational fishery (2010) is $150M in GDP, 3,873 full-time jobs and $128M worth of income; there are also active food, social and ceremonial fisheries for Atlantic salmon by more than 40 First Nations and many Indigenous communities across Eastern Canada. In Central and Coastal Labrador, the fishery is also a key source for local community food fisheries.
• The social-cultural value of Atlantic salmon far exceeds their economic and subsistence value: wherever people and salmon coexist, the connection is deep.
• Once abundant in rivers northward from New York state to outer Ungava Bay, Atlantic salmon populations have been extirpated from the southern extent of their range; Canada has jurisdiction over 16 of 17 remaining salmon populations in North America, many of which are in decline.
• The causes of the widespread decline of Atlantic salmon are not well understood. A number of threats are generally recognized, including: legal and illegal fisheries domestically (freshwater) and internationally (marine), commercial and industrial developments that impact habitat quantity and quality (e.g. farming, hydroelectric dams, forestry, aquaculture); poor marine survival (we don’t know why); and, climate change (e.g., warming freshwater and marine environments, shifts in food webs).
• Not only are there multiple threats, but the conservation landscape of salmon is complex, which impedes recovery success. DFO shares the responsibility for the management of Atlantic salmon in freshwater with the provinces, and the management approach differs depending on the respective federal-provincial arrangement. Globally, the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) sets and allocates harvestable surplus (i.e. Greenland subsistence fisheries subject to Canada-Greenland bilateral agreement on mixed stocks).
• There is currently one Species at Risk Act (SARA) listed population, the inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon Designatable Unit (DU), which was listed on Schedule one in 2003. Nine additional DUs of Atlantic salmon across Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have been assessed by the arm’s-length scientific body, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), as at-risk (four as Endangered, one as Threatened, and four as Special Concern) and are under consideration for listing under SARA. In November 2020, an update on this decision-making process was sent to Indigenous groups, key stakeholders, and the provinces. The update invited recipients to advise of any change of position or new information, by March 15, 2021. These check-ins have yielded mixed responses similar to those heard during consultations, with a few exceptions where positions have changed. These responses, as well as feedback received during consultations, will inform the listing decision. Listing under SARA would trigger protections through prohibitions and rigorous permitting, requirements for recovery and management planning, and identification and protection of critical habitat.
• In 2016, the Atlantic Salmon Research Joint Venture was announced to improve the coordination of salmon scientific research, such as at-sea-survival. Investments through DFO’s Science Partnership Fund have been matched 1:1 by Joint Venture partners. Since its inception, the Joint Venture has leveraged over $2.3M to support Atlantic salmon research in priority areas. Now, the Joint Venture is implementing a large-scale, multi-stakeholder collaborative research effort directed at some of the most urgent and pressing research questions relating to survival of salmon at sea.
• In June 2016, DFO released its Forward Plan for Atlantic Salmon, in response to the 2015 report of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Atlantic Salmon; and, announced the revised Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Policy and Implementation Plan, in March 2017 and May 2019, respectively. The resulting 2019-21 Implementation Plan outlines the actions DFO and partners will take to help restore and maintain healthy wild Atlantic salmon populations. Now in its final year, the Department has committed to reporting on the results of the Implementation Plan and is also engaging stakeholders on the path forward beyond 2021.

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