Leonard Nicholas perceives Atlantic salmon in a unique light compared to most residents of New Brunswick — he views them as kin or forebears.
“They’ve existed here for as long as we have,” mentioned Nicholas, who serves as the fishery strategy director for Tobique First Nation. “That’s why we’ve been exerting tremendous effort to preserve them.”
The Tobique River, Nicholas’s abode, is a tributary of the Wolastoq, also known as the St. John River. In the 1980s, the river system accommodated tens of thousands of salmon. Presently, only a few hundred make their way back to the Mactaquac Dam on the river yearly, based on reports from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Although the population is facing challenges, the Mactaquac Biodiversity Facility of DFO has been instrumental in its conservation.
“The situation can be likened to a patient being alive but far from healthy,” remarked UNB biologist Tommi Linnansaari.
“We are essentially keeping this metaphorical patient on life support. If we were to disconnect it, the patient would succumb immediately,”
The facility has been relocating salmon beyond three hydroelectric dams upstream and nurturing juvenile salmon from the river before releasing them upstream for reproduction.
DFO is set to close this facility in the autumn.
Christine Lyons, a DFO spokesperson, stated that despite 25 years of extensive endeavors, salmon returns remain meager.
First Nations representatives and biologists are concerned that the closure will lead to the extinction of salmon in the Wolastoq, known as outer Bay of Fundy salmon by DFO and scientists.
Nicholas was informed about the closure in January, and in February, he was informed that DFO would not assist in the transportation or nurturing of the spring run of juvenile salmon.
“Being informed abruptly in the same year of closure without adequate warning or consultation was a severe blow, and I have been scrambling since then,” he expressed.
Nicholas collaborates with a team that gathers juvenile salmon above N.B. Power’s Tobique River dam.
The salmon navigate through a fishway, a ramp atop the dam that channels fish into a collection pool. Previously, DFO would collect the fish, nurture them at their facility, and release them above the dam for reproduction.
Presently, Nicholas has juvenile salmon, or smolts, passing through the fishway with no custodian for their upbringing. While formulating a plan, the Canadian Rivers Institute at UNB, a coalition of researchers nationwide dedicated to enhancing rivers, has been lending support.
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