Parks Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Restoration

A rapid decline in wild Atlantic salmon populations in the 1980s and 1990s led Parks Canada to begin restoration efforts across the region. After independent successes through research and recovery methods, national parks in Atlantic Canada launched a regional approach in 2019 to use these best practices in Atlantic salmon conservation. Five Atlantic national parks – Fundy, Cape Breton Highlands, Gros Morne, Terra Nova and Kouchibouguac national parks – are working together in this collaborative five-year study. Each national park is home to a unique population of Atlantic salmon, which varies in size. Scientists are studying the impacts of conservation across this range of different populations at each site, simultaneously. Collaborating on conservation methods and ecological monitoring techniques at each site will increase understanding of Atlantic salmon populations and inform conservation decisions into the future. With the additional Conservation and Restoration funding investment of just over $431,000, combined with the 2019 federal funding, the Government of Canada has invested a total of over $4.1 million for the Atlantic Parks Salmon Recovery project.

Parks Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Restoration

By establishing Parks Canada’s first-ever Research Chair, the Government of Canada, in partnership with the University of New Brunswick (UNB), is supporting aquatic restoration through research, monitoring and Atlantic salmon recovery actions.

The Parks Canada Research Chair position has been awarded to Dr. Kurt Samways from the University of New Brunswick, Saint John. Dr. Samways will work in conjunction with Parks Canada’s Atlantic Salmon Conservation and Restoration Project, Atlantic Parks Salmon Recovery, to take a regional approach in assessing ecological function before and after salmon recovery action. The work will inform a science-based decision making framework to help direct future decisions.

UNB is a leader in research and education, and has been working closely with Parks Canada for over a decade. As a result, UNB is ideally positioned to host a research chair position to focus and design studies on aquatic restoration. This opportunity will provide UNB students with unique, hands-on training opportunities that will better prepare them for a career in conservation biology.

Regional Atlantic Salmon Recovery Project Descriptions  

Fundy National Park:

The inner Bay of Fundy salmon population were listed as endangered under Species at Risk Act in 2003. Parks Canada has partnered with academia, Indigenous community members, private industries and all levels of government to launch a pilot project to raise and release wild inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon. This was the first project in the world to collect young fish from the wild and raise them in an ocean environment. Fundy National Park continues to be a leading partner in the Fundy Salmon Recovery project aimed at improving the ecological integrity and abundance of wild, endangered Atlantic salmon. The Fundy Salmon Recovery project is responsible for recovery actions on the Upper Salmon River and Point Wolfe River in Fundy National Park as well as the Petitcodiac River, managed by Fort Folly First Nation.

Cape Breton Highlands National Park

The eastern Cape Breton salmon population is listed as endangered under Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). In partnership with Indigenous communities and academia, this project aims to increase the population of at-risk wild salmon and restore the aquatic ecosystem of the Clyburn Brook in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Parks Canada’s ecological integrity monitoring program along the Clyburn Brook has shown that the Atlantic salmon population has declined to an unsustainable level. Wild-origin juvenile salmon are being collected from the brook and transported to the Dalhousie Aquatron Laboratory. Atlantic salmon are reared to adulthood in this facility and then transported back to the Clyburn Brook to be released. The strategy is to increase the number of spawning adult salmon in the Clyburn Brook.

Gros Morne National Park

Although the Northwest Newfoundland salmon population is not at risk, salmon stock specific to Trout River is declining with the 2017 census reporting only 13 salmon returns. This continuing decline in the number of adult Atlantic salmon returning to spawn in the Trout River watershed is pushing the locally adapted population into further decline. In partnership with the community of Trout River, Indigenous communities, private industries and academia, this project aims to increase the number of wild salmon. Salmon will be raised at one of Memorial University's above ground rearing facilities and released into Trout River when they reach maturity.

Terra Nova National Park 

While the Northeast Newfoundland population is not at risk, knowledge from past salmon recovery in Terra Nova will provide valuable input for this regional approach to conservation. In 1995, when the lower portion of the Northwest River (NWR) was ceded to Terra Nova National Park, Parks Canada installed a salmon counting fence and determined that Atlantic salmon returns were well below Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) habitat-based conservation targets. This raised concerns about the health of the NWR salmon population, leading to closure of the recreational fishery in 1996. Despite the fishery closure, continued monitoring showed that the population was at risk of local extirpation. In 2002, Parks Canada joined forces with DFO and local residents to forge a new path for NWR salmon conservation. They formed the NWR Atlantic Salmon Conservation Working Group, and engaged in a collaborative process to develop a population recovery and conservation plan for NWR. With time to recover itself and the launch of a new limited retention recreational fishery, Terra Nova National Park has been able to reach their conservation target of 500 salmon returns each year since 2003.

Kouchibouguac National Park

The Gaspe-Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence salmon population is listed as special concern under Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). The Kouchibouguac and Kouchibouguacis rivers stand out as two tributaries having considerable densities of juvenile salmon in the region, but longer-term data shows an overall declining trend. Using knowledge and surveillance, this project aims to increase the population of Atlantic salmon through habitat and electrofishing surveys, adult tagging and genetic sampling. In partnership with Indigenous communities and non-profit organizations, both the park and partners work together to manage restoration and monitoring efforts involving the implantation of eggs in protective trays placed in optimal habitat. Comparing the outcome of monitoring and conservation efforts in Kouchibouguac to that of other parks will help understand the timeframe when actions applied to declining populations are most efficient.

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