http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-...e-salmon-starts-behind-closed-doors-1.2989560
Gail Shea's panel to save salmon starts behind closed doors
Angling and river groups seek more federal involvement in protecting Atlantic salmon
By Paul Withers, CBC News Posted: Mar 10, 2015 6:29 PM AT Last Updated: Mar 10, 2015 6:31 PM AT
Bob Rutherford volunteers for Adopt-A-Stream. He says Nova Scotia can do a lot to fix the problem. (CBC)
Gail Shea announces $400K in funding for Nova Scotia salmon projects
A federal ministerial panel began the first of four hearings Tuesday looking for ways to turn around the decline of Atlantic salmon in the region's rivers.
The closed-door meeting heard from angling and river groups who are shouldering more of the burden of restoring rivers after the federal fisheries department pulled back — some say pulled out — of habitat management.
"We need [the Department of Fisheries and Oceans] back. We need DFO funding. We need DFO scientists," said Walter Regan of the Sackville Rivers Association, one of 11 groups appearing before the 10-member panel at a Dartmouth hotel.
Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea created the advisory panel in response to public concerns about continued low returns of Atlantic salmon and what she called alarming low returns in New Brunswick's Miramachi River in 2014.
Shea announces $400K in funding for Nova Scotia salmon projects
Shea did not attend the panel hearing.
"That certainly was wake up call in the gulf," says panel chairman Greg Roach, a former deputy minister of Nova Scotia's Fisheries Department.
Roach says the minister wants practical steps in a report expected this summer.
"There are opportunities in the estuaries and the river systems. We asked for concrete, practical advice as to what we can do to improve things," he said.
Federal government 'all gone'
CBC News was not allowed inside the hearing to report what was said, but learned solutions included further limits on recreational fishing, more at-sea science, more habitat restoration and more federal commitment.
"There is lot we can do in Nova Scotia to fix these problems," says retired DFO habitat manager Bob Rutherford, who volunteers with Adopt-A-Stream, a group which carries out restoration work like replacing culverts and building fish ladders.
He says that's work the federal government has abandoned in recent years.
"That now is really all gone. DFO doesn't have the capacity to do that. They don't have the staff in the field working with the community groups doing habitat restoration," he says.
Rutherford says ironically, there is federal money available, but it's falling to volunteer groups to carry out the work.
"The money has increased. The work has increased. The [federal] staff has disappeared," he said.
At the outset of panel hearings on Monday, Shea was at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. The fisheries minister met advisory panel members and announced $400,000 in funding for Adopt-A-Stream programs and the restoration of two fish ladders in Nova Scotia.
"Upon completion this work will contribute to our broader stocks contribution efforts," she said.
Rutherford and others pointed out that Fisheries and Oceans owns both fish ladders and allowed them to fall into disrepair.
60 per cent smolts decline
The ministerial panel is also looking for solutions to problems that are beyond local control, like what to do about the commercial fishery off Greenland which catches salmon before they can return to Canadian waters.
Bob Rutherford says there is plenty to be done here, citing rivers on the Eastern Shore.
"In the West River and St Mary's we are losing 60 per cent of the smolts in the estuary and it's only three kilometres long. If you are losing that many right there on your shoreline, why are you worried about the Danes so much?" he asked.
The panel is seeking input on conservation/enforcement measures, management, predation and international issues like high seas fisheries and climate change.
Future hearings will be held in Moncton, St. John's and Quebec City.
