In 1997, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans transferred the hatchery and the responsibility for stocking salmon in the Miramichi River to the local community through the Miramichi Watershed Management Committee. This umbrella organization is made up of several conservation groups, corporations, outfitters and guiding associations from the region. The Miramichi Salmon Association, a non-profit conservation organization established in 1953 to lobby for the conservation of the Atlantic salmon for future generations, operates the MSCC on behalf of the Committee. The Miramichi Salmon Association has completed a major renovation in 2005 to transform the facility into a major center for Atlantic salmon research. (not all new pictures are shown).  The priority of the Miramichi Salmon Conservation Centre is research, while continuing to enhance salmon populations to sustain optimum juvenile salmon stocks in the Miramichi watershed.  Beyond that, the MSCC raises indigenous brook trout enhancement stocks under contract with the Province of New Brunswick and plays a role in educating the public on Atlantic salmon conservation.