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 The salmon's sensitivity to enviromental change and its dependence upon both fresh and saltwater habitats make it one of the most difficult species to manage. Habitat management, stock assessment, fisheries regulation, stock development and research are all essential aspects of the management process. In Canada and the United States, federal and regional government agencies cooperatively address these areas, often with assistance from resource user groups and private sector organizations. International salmon research, stock assessment and some high seas harvesting quotas are implemented through the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), organizations sponsored by nations with an interest in North Atlantic fishery resource. Increased awareness of the Atlantic salmon's threatened status has resulted in major initiatives to restore the resource. During the 1990s, the Canadian and provincial governments have provided close to $200 million to develop the recreational fisheries in Québec and the Atlantic provinces. The governments of Canada and the Atlantic provinces are funding an Atlantic Sportfishery Enhancement Program for the sustainable development of the recreational fishing industry. In Québec, a federal-provincial agreement in 1990 provided $24 million for funding of protection, restoration and salmon development projects. In the United States, a multi-million dollar Atlantic salmon restoration program which began in 1967 is making progress toward it's goal to re-establish natural runs in many New England's historic salmon rivers. Recreational fishing is a major enterprise in Canada. It engages 5 ½ million Canadians and almost a million visitor each year and generates more than $5 ½ billion worth of economic activity. In Atlantic Canada, however, the recreational fishery has an untapped potential. Non-resident anglers spent over just over $15 millioen in the ATlantic provinces in 1990. In British Columbia, anglers from outside that province spent over 210 million in the same year. Cooperatice international management efforts provide protection for mixed salmon stocks on the high seas. A noble example of this is the international agreement limiting the salmon harvest at West Greenland, where unrestricted fishing between 1960 and 1972 is believed to have been a major cause in the world Atlantic salmon stocks. NASCO has negotiated increasingly smaller quotas for the Greenlands fishery, making it affordable , for the first time in 1993, for private interests, government and conservation organizations, including the Atlantic Salmon Federation, are now seking a long-term solution to the Greenland fishery through employment alternatives of the Inuit fishermen. Resource management will ultimately determine the Atlantic salmon's chances of survival. Present-day intiatives are seeking to ensure the brightest possible future for the "King of Freshwater Fish". |
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Main The Atlantic Salmon The Salmon Life Cycle The Fisheries Managing The Resource Aquaculture Brook Trout Hatchery Process Image Gallery | ||
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