Why? Fishing for Answers

Last week we saw that Guysborough County receives only 1% of the economic benefit generated by Atlantic salmon angling in Nova Scotia. Why? Let`s go fishing for answers.

Under the leadership of Nova Scotia Fisheries & Aquaculture Minister Hon. Ron Chisholm, our Inland Fisheries Division has made significant gains in management and development of sport fishing in Nova Scotia. Accomplishments such as the youth education program, acquisition of the Margaree salmon hatchery, and expansion of the Frasers Mills hatchery are great examples. Our provincial government strongly supports sportfishing and even encourages us to fish! That lets Nova Scotia off the hook.

Management of Atlantic salmon in Canada is a federal responsibility, not provincial. Trout, however, are provincial, which is why we see many waters closed to salmon angling, but not trout. The federal Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) can, however, delegate certain responsibilities for salmon to the provinces, while maintaining control of the resource. This has happened, in different ways in the Atlantic Provinces and Quebec, creating an inconsistent management strategy throughout the region. Even within Nova Scotia we see this, where DFO divides our province into two regions, Scotia-Fundy and Gulf. 

The Gulf Region includes the Gulf of St. Lawrence waters including Northumberland Strait from the north-eastern extremity of Cape Breton (Cape North) to the NS-NB border. The Scotia-Fundy Region covers southern Cape Breton to the NS-NB border on the Bay of Fundy side. An hour`s drive from Antigonish to Sherbrooke enables us to view tidewaters of both regions. Although these tidewaters may look similar, DFO policies governing Atlantic salmon management are vastly different.

DFO`s Gulf Region has Nova Scotia provincial resources stocking salmon in rivers such as the Margaree, Pictou County`s West River, and Cumberland County`s River Philip. This seems a reasonable initiative, given the spectacular success of the Margaree Hatchery.

 DFO`s Scotia-Fundy Region, on the other hand, doesn`t permit our provincial resources to begin stocking any salmon stream that wasn’t barren of Atlantic salmon. Since 1995, when DFO divested itself of Nova Scotia`s salmon hatcheries, except for the Mersey hatchery near Liverpool which is now called a `live gene-banking facility`, DFO has operated under a policy that excludes DFO hatchery operation in Nova Scotia, but permits local community groups to stock salmon at their own expense. It appears that DFO is in contravention of its own policy by refusing to allow community groups to supplement salmon stocks in Guysborough County waters using provincial resources available to us.

Although we`ve got DFO Scotia-Fundy firmly on the hook, we’re still not even close to landing and dispatching the beast yet. It may happen in next week’s column, though. If so, we`ll see what’s inside!

Please stay on the line ...