An Expression of Sincere Respect and

Appreciation for the Late Warren Duncan

It is with great sadness to have recently lost another close friend and supporter of the Miramichi Salmon Association with the passing of Warren Duncan on February 10^th 2007.  There are not too many anglers who have fished the Miramichi, or for that matter, salmon rivers around the world, who did not know Warren, either personally or by name.  All of us at the MSA are certainly pleased and proud to have had a close relationship with Warren. 

We will always appreciate his valuable contribution over recent years in providing his flies to our Lifetime Sponsorship Program.  The quality and reputation of Warren’s flies certainly helped to make this program a special one. When Warren was first approached about this program several years ago, it was with MSA’s intention of paying a reasonable price for his creations.  The fact that Warren insisted on donating them free of charge more than qualified him for MSA recognition, and we will do just that at the Miramichi Ice-Breaker on Saturday, April 28th.  He certainly helped to create and make this program work so well. 

It was Warren’s wish to donate his fly tying desk to the Woodmen’s Museum in Boiestown, which houses the MSA office.   This special gift is now proudly displayed there, and we hope you will join us at the Ice-Breaker to honour the memory of this fine man we had the pleasure of knowing and working with. 

SOME SOBERING RESULTS FROM 2006

By Mark Hambrook, MSA President

Preliminary statistics from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for the 2006 season reveal that salmon and grilse returns to the Miramichi watershed were about the same as in the previous year.  These preliminary numbers show the average estimate of salmon for 2006 at 18,500 and for grilse, the estimate is at 32,000.  This represents about 84% of the conservation target for the Miramichi.

However, when we look at the distribution of fish between the Southwest Miramichi and the Northwest Miramichi, the most startling, indeed shocking data pertains to the Northwest Miramichi where the estimates are only 2,000 salmon and 6,000 grilse returning.  Those numbers in aggregate are approximately 45% below the 2005 returns and 50% below the previous five-year average.  Even worse is that the conservation level for the past 5 years has not been met on the Northwest Miramichi, with 2006 at only 22% of the conservation target.

For the Southwest Miramichi, the statistics are more encouraging, with returns of 16,500 salmon and 26,000 grilse.  In aggregate, these are more than 30% above the 2005 returns, and about 15% above the previous five-year average.  The conservation level was met on the Southwest Miramichi in 2006 at 113% of the conservation target. 

It is clear that the adult returns of Atlantic salmon are in serious trouble on the Northwest Miramichi! The causes of these declines must be discovered, and solutions implemented as quickly as possible.  The Miramichi Salmon Association will play an important role in this process.  One bad year shouldn’t start a panic, but the Northwest Miramichi has been down for 5 years and management action is now required - by government, by Native Bands, and by recreational anglers to ensure that enough adults get to the spawning beds. 

Even on the Southwest Miramichi, we should not be deluded by marginal improvements in one recent year over another.  It is important to remember that from 1985 to 1995 the combined number of salmon and grilse returning to the Miramichi averaged around 100,000 fish and in the past 10 years the return is half at approximately 50,000 fish per year.  The Northwest Miramichi requires immediate action to halt the decline of adults and the Southwest Miramichi still requires careful nurturing to bring it to the level it can be.  The MSA will work hard to make this a reality.

Egg Production by Miramichi Atlantic salmon

By Jenny Reid, MSA Biologist

The current conservation limit for Atlantic salmon in the Miramichi River is based on the deposition of 32 million eggs within the river each year.  The numbers and sizes of Atlantic salmon that move through the trap nets at Cassilis and Millerton are used to estimate the proportion of the population that consists of grilse, 2SW and MSW salmon.  Each grilse, 2SW and MSW contains a predicted number of eggs and this is used to determine if the conservation target has been met.  The number of eggs produced by grilse, 2SW and MSW of different lengths is based on early work that counted the numbers of eggs that were produced within the ovary of unripe female salmon.  It is believed that the number of eggs produced per female may have changed over time or may be an overestimation as not all eggs within the ovary would develop and survive.  Additionally, grilse and multi-sea winter salmon produce different sizes and numbers of eggs per kg of female.  Larger eggs, produce larger fry, and larger fry often have higher survival because of their superior competitive ability.  Additionally there are more multi-sea winter salmon in the Miramichi today than when the first work was done, so many of these large fish may not have been included in the calculation.  This time the count will be done by counting the eggs from spawning fish. 

The Miramichi Salmon Association in conjunction with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is conducting the study at the Miramichi Salmon Conservation Centre.  The study will allow us to compare the fecundity (number of eggs produced) and egg size of grilse and salmon from Miramichi Watershed for use in setting conservation limits.  This study will also determine how additional factors such as adult length, weight and age influence fecundity and survival of eggs.  Additionally we will compare the survival of juveniles produced by of grilse, 2 SW maiden salmon, and salmon on their second spawning. 

Adult Atlantic salmon brood stock were collected in the fall of 2006 on nine different sections of the Miramichi.  When females were ready to spawn their length, weight and a scale sample was taken.  Once a female was spawned, her eggs went into a pan that was labeled with a number which correspond to the female and the male salmon that fertilized the eggs.  When the eggs were first fertilized they were tough and could take a lot of handling.  After 24 hours the eggs became very fragile and could not be touched.  The unfertilized or bad eggs were removed prior to this 24 hour period.  The eggs incubated untouched, for approximately two months until they reached the eyed stage.   During the eyed stage the fishes’ eyes began to form and you could see two tiny faint black dots within the eggs.  The eggs were still relatively fragile but the ones that had died during incubation could be removed and counted.  Approximately two and a half months later the eggs had developed so much you could see two dark eye spots within the eggs.  At this stage the eggs are tough and could be counted.  The eggs were counted by using the volumetric displacement method and egg size was determined by measuring the diameter the eggs.  Once the eggs were developed enough they were placed in hatching boxes to continue their development. 

Eggs from selected grilse, 2SW maiden salmon, and 1SW and 2SW repeat spawning salmon will be put into separate tanks.  The fry will grow until the end of August to determine if there are differences in survival between the different groups of offspring. 

This study will allow us to better predict the required conservation limit by determining how adult length influences fecundity and to predict the contribution of maiden and repeat spawning salmon in reaching the conservation limit in terms of egg production and the survival of juvenile offspring.  Eventually we hope that the information obtained from this experiment will be utilized in future adult stock assessments.  Thanks to all of the camps and people that participated in the broodstock collection program this year.

SALSEA Program to Raise the Profile

and Awareness of Wild Salmon Stocks

by Malcolm Windsor, Secretary of NASCO

The North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) is the international salmon treaty, based in Edingurgh, Scotland and it has launched a major initiative called SALSEA to study salmon at sea.  Why? Because salmon stocks are depleted and evidence points to changes in the ocean phase as the main reason.

• Overall production in the North Atlantic has declined; 
• Marine survival has declined (the return rate to many rivers has halved over the last 30 years); 
• Southern European stocks (ie. France, Spain, Ireland, Scotland, England) are declining faster than northern stocks (ie. Norway, Russia, Iceland); 
• North American stocks, particularly in the south of the region, are declining fast; 
• Salmon staying away for one sea winter show different patterns of decline than those staying longer.

Why do we think that the main problem is in the sea?  Mainly because we have dealt with or are dealing with most other problems.

• Many rivers have been cleaned up and restored by government agencies, riparian landowners and angling groups; habitat and smolt production has improved; 
• Fishing in international waters was closed by the NASCO Convention, a huge salmon sanctuary was created and we have enforced it; 
• NASCO has negotiated huge reductions in the interceptory fisheries in Greenland and Faroes.  Virtually all other interception fisheries, including very recently the last major one in existence, the Irish drift net fishery, have been closed or controlled; 
• There is no over-fishing at sea; 
• Many mixed stock fisheries in home waters have been eliminated by legislation or by buy-outs; 
• Catch and release rod fishing has increased, allowing both the economic benefits of angling and more fish to spawn.  More than 50% of salmon caught by rod in the UK are released; in Russia the figure is closer to 100%. 

We might have expected that, with all these conservation efforts, the salmon might have bounced back, but unfortunately it hasn’t.  In fact, according to ICES, salmon stocks are now at an historic low level.  So we need to extend our work to carry out research at sea.  We need to know where and why salmon are dying at sea and when we sample them there, we need to know which river they came from with new genetic techniques.  So we have launched the Salmon at Sea Program, SALSEA, to carry out this exciting work.

We believe that salmon use currents on their long migrations and that the interfaces between these currents and the shelf edges produce the right temperatures for the fish and its feed.  There are areas where we intend to make surveys, areas where we believe the salmon are moving to and from their feeding grounds.  That is where we will sample them, determine their river of origin, their size, their age and growth characteristics, their condition and, at the same time of course, note the environment in which we found them.

What will this SALSEA Program deliver?  First we expect it to deliver good science, original new scientific information.  Second, if knowledge is the key to sensible action, we expect that the result will help us to manage wild salmon stocks better.  Third, it will increase our knowledge of how the salmon interacts with marine environments. Fourth, the techniques we use for Genetic Stock Identification will be innovative and may well have applications for other marine species.  Fifth, international cooperation between all North Atlantic nations and NGOs will, we believe, produce added value to national programs.  The sum will be more than the parts. Sixth, the project may tell us something about the impacts of climate change. And finally, the project may give us insight into some mysteries.  How does a salmon find its way across the Atlantic to Greenland?  Even more astounding, how does it know it is Spanish, Canadian, Russian, Irish or Scottish?  How does it find its way back, not just to those countries, but to the very river it was born?

One of the problems with salmon is that its true value is often not recognized.  Wild salmon bring economic value to remoter areas.  Salmon rivers all around the Atlantic benefit from salmon runs that bring anglers, which in turn creates jobs in areas often struggling with employment.  There is a big multiplier effect.  The value of fishing rights in the UK can be increased by as much as 7,000 euro per additional salmon returning.  But the wild salmon is also an iconic species.  People who will never catch one care about salmon.  People wonder at its migrations, its determination and its tenacity.  People get a thrill just walking along a salmon river and no doubt many of us have seen crowds gather at a place where salmon leap.  So the wild salmon has an “existence” value all of its own. The SALSEA program will, in itself, raise the profile and awareness of the importance to society of the wild stocks.

We have to ask ourselves if we are content to manage in a situation where we are ignorant of the factors driving the abundance.  It is a wonderful thing to have good rivers and to clean up poor ones so that salmon can once again prosper.  But it will be futile if we cannot understand the decline at sea.

We would not contemplate a world where we consciously allow the salmon to be reduced to an existence in farmed cages; a world where the wild salmon no longer go about their migrations. This is our chance to bring all the hard work full circle and make a  difference before it is too late.  SALSEA is a major piece of the plan to understand what is happening to the wild stocks at sea and the outcome could have far-reaching implications for other species.

Jack T.H. Fenety Conservation Scholarship

            The Miramichi Salmon Association offers a major scholarship for salmon research in honour of its long time former President, Jack T.H. Fenety of Fredericton.  The $10,000 scholarship is made available each year to a selected graduate student attending a university who is conducting meaningful research about wild Atlantic salmon and/or its habitat which will have relevance for the Miramichi watershed.  We are pleased to print articles from two of the recipients of this award. 

Trying to understand basic fish ecology

Jaewoo Kim, Ph.D. Candidate, Concordia University

2006 Jack T.H. Fenety Conservation Scholarship Award Winner

Due to climate change, over-exploitation, and habitat loss, the number and the range of wild Atlantic salmon have been steadily declining. In recent years, there has been a concentrated effort to conserve this species by improving management practices. However, such efforts may be enhanced by improving our understanding of basic fish ecology. For example, territoriality can limit population size and regulate animal populations including salmonids in freshwater habitats. Predation can also limit population size and influence how individuals defend territories.

Thanks to the Jack T.H. Fenety Conservation Scholarship offered by the Miramichi Salmon Association (MSA), I conducted a series of field experiments to examine how territoriality and predation regulate populations of juvenile Atlantic salmon in the wild.

In particular, I investigated how different age classes of juvenile Atlantic salmon use chemical and visual information to assess predation risk in the wild. I also examined whether juvenile salmon prefer to settle in a less risky habitat during the settlement period, when young salmon emerge from gravel nests and begin defending territories.

Our first experiment showed that when juvenile salmon are exposed to either a chemical alarm cue (i.e. skin extract of another salmon) or a model predator, they reduced their foraging activity. Interestingly, juvenile salmon use chemical and visual information in an additive way: a fish that receives both a chemical and a visual cue ceases foraging for longer than a fish that receives only one cue. The second experiment showed that the local population density of juvenile Atlantic salmon decreased over a 17-day period when chemical alarm cues were released into their simulated risky habitats. In contrast, the density increased in control sites, suggesting that juvenile salmon use chemical information to avoid risky areas.

Understanding how predation risk influences population density and regulates wild populations of juvenile Atlantic salmon will be important in conservation and management efforts, particularly for the juvenile salmon stocks in the Miramichi River. Furthermore, understanding the chronic effects of predation risk will complement the series of predation models by quantifying the cost and the benefit associated with anti-predator behaviour.  

Temperature stress in salmon and the

importance of thermal refugia

Cindy Breau, Ph. D. Candidate, University of New Brunswick,

2003 Jack T.H. Fenety Conservation Scholarship Award Winner

In fishes, temperature is an important environmental factor influencing daily activities, growth, and timing for reproduction.  During the summer, rivers that Atlantic salmon inhabit can get quite warm and become stressful for fish.  This is the case in north temperate streams, such as the Little Southwest Miramichi River, which experiences high temperatures despite its geographical location and overall cooler conditions.  Water temperatures in these streams can approach and even exceed lethal limits for salmonids many days of the summer.  In slower-flowing rivers, such as the Cains River, dissolved oxygen levels can also become limiting, adding further stress on fish, which could greatly affect their survival.

Associated with high water temperatures is physiological stress.  In salmon, adults are negatively affected at ~19°C even though this temperature is near optimum for the juveniles.  My research on the Little Southwest showed that the movement of juvenile salmon to cooler water only occurred at temperatures of 23°C and greater.  At high water temperatures adult salmon accumulate detrimental metabolites (e.g. lactate in the muscles) at a lower temperatures than the juveniles because of their lower tolerance for high water temperatures.  The physiological state of the salmon at high water temperatures makes the fish even more vulnerable to diseases (e.g. furunculosis) with additional stress (e.g. human activities and man-made disturbance) exacerbating their condition. 

In my study I found that there were two ways that the juveniles coped with high temperatures: 1) physiologically, by adjusting their activity (e.g. swimming and feeding) and 2) behaviourally, by moving to locations with more suitable temperatures.  However, thermal refugia are very important for both adult and juvenile salmon during extreme conditions due to the physiological benefits accrued. During critically high temperatures, sources of cool water are extremely important for the survival of the fish and to reduce the weight loss associated with high temperature stress.  In cooler water, the metabolic rate of the fish is lowered and consequently energetic demands are reduced.  As a result, weight loss is reduced in juvenile salmon, promoting survival and growth.  The difference in growth may determine if a two-year old salmon will attain a large enough size to become a smolt the following spring.

Due to their small size and limited spatial representation, first-order tributaries and groundwater point sources (seeps) are often ignored or overlooked during land-use planning.  Often such water sources provide the most stable thermal conditions (winter and summer) where various animals, including the Atlantic salmon, aggregate.  Studies conducted on high temperature stress demonstrate the importance of seeps for Atlantic salmon and underlines the conservation value of cool water sources for sustaining freshwater biodiversity.