Question Period Note: Wild Atlantic salmon

What are you doing to restore and rebuild wild Atlantic salmon populations and their habitats?

• Wild Atlantic salmon is deeply important for the people of Atlantic Canada and Quebec, including Indigenous communities for whom it holds food, social, and ceremonial value.
• Our government is working with Indigenous peoples, provinces and stakeholders to restore and rebuild wild Atlantic salmon populations and their habitats.
• We are continuing to work with interested parties to create the first conservation strategy supporting and advancing the Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Policy.

• 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 ongoing with stakeholders and partners since the summer of 2021 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. The Department will continue to engage even broader audiences in 2022 as the work continues to create the Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Strategy.
• The Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Policy and Implementation Plan were announced in March of 2017 and May of 2019, respectively. The 2019-21 Implementation Plan outlined the actions Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and partners expected take to help restore and maintain healthy wild Atlantic salmon populations. The Status report on the Wild Atlantic Salmon Conversation Implementation Plan published in May of 2022 confirmed that the goal to restore and maintain healthy wild Atlantic salmon populations remains relevant.
• 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.
• 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 (not well understood); 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) negotiates regulatory measures to strengthen the management of Canadian and US salmon harvested in Greenland’s subsistence fishery.
• There is currently one Atlantic salmon population listed under the Species at Risk Act (SARA), the inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon Designatable Unit (DU), which was listed on Schedule 1 as endangered 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 of 2020, an update on this decision-making process was sent to Indigenous groups, key stakeholders, and the provinces. 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 including the identification and protection of critical habitat for endangered or threatened populations and management planning for species listed as special concern.
• 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.

• My department is developing advice on whether or not to list several Atlantic salmon populations under the Species at Risk Act.
• We consulted Indigenous communities, provinces and key stakeholders and currently considering feedback received to inform the final listing decisions.