Question Period Note: Wild Atlantic Salmon

• Wild Atlantic salmon are an iconic species for the people of Atlantic Canada and Quebec, including Indigenous communities for whom it holds food, social, and ceremonial value.
• My department is working with Indigenous Peoples, provinces and stakeholders to develop the first conservation strategy supporting and advancing the Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Policy.
• The draft Strategy responds to ‘what we heard’, as well as an extensive body of work dedicated to Atlantic salmon over the past decade.
• I anticipate that the Strategy will be published this autumn, 2024.

BACKGROUND
Overview on Wild Atlantic Salmon mandate commitment
• 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 described as an ongoing conversation with Indigenous Peoples, partners and stakeholders, to accommodate shifting contexts and priorities (i.e., completion of Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Policy Implementation Plan 2019-2021, followed by 2021 mandate commitment).
• Since the summer of 2021, the Department has held over 60 discussions with participation by over 80 organizations, and received 474 submissions through its online portal, Let’s Talk Atlantic Salmon. A ‘What we Heard’ report was published in September 2023.
• Partners and stakeholders are generally supportive of the direction proposed for the Conservation Strategy, however expectations are high that the Department will announce new investments in light of the commitment in the 2021 mandate letter, and given the significant funds awarded to Pacific salmon in Budget 2021.
• A draft Strategy has been developed and refined based on ‘what we heard’ and a final external engagement opportunity for review and comment by Indigenous peoples, provincial governments, partners and stakeholders is now underway (closing on July 30th, 2024).
• The final strategy, titled “Restore, Maintain, Thrive: Canada’s national strategy to ensure the future of Atlantic salmon” is anticipated to be published in the fall of 2024.

Background on Atlantic salmon
• 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.
• 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., 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. Internationally, 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 exist 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.
• A Gardner-Pinfold study conducted in 2022 estimates the GDP value of the Atlantic salmon recreational fishery to be $218M. However the social-cultural value of Atlantic salmon far exceeds its economic and subsistence value: wherever people and salmon coexist, the connection is deep.
• 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. Listing under SARA would trigger protections through prohibitions and rigorous permitting for endangered or threatened populations, 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.
 

conservation
• My Department actively supports Atlantic salmon conservation activities domestically and abroad. Funding for Atlantic salmon and its habitat is available through a variety of Grants and Contribution programs, which facilitate ‘actions on the ground’ by Indigenous peoples, partners and stakeholders.
• Further investments to protect and restore wild Atlantic salmon may be informed by the Strategy currently under development.

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 consulted Indigenous communities, provinces and key stakeholders and are currently finalizing the final listing advice.