Members of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, thank you for the opportunity to be part of your discussions regarding the Atlantic salmon. As a New Brunswicker, this is a subject of great importance to our province.
I am happy to have the opportunity today to talk to you about the future of Atlantic salmon.
By way of background, JDI has been engaged in scientific research for over 30 years. To date, we have over 30 students who have received their masters and doctorate degrees with the support of our organization conducting research on our timberland. These projects involve a wide range of scientific disciplines, including migratory birds, rare plants, mosses, large mammals such as deer and moose, seagoing brook trout and, most importantly to this committee, Atlantic salmon.
Our company's annual investment in research averages about $1.5 million a year. We have attached for the committee's information an overview of our current forestry research efforts. That's been given to the clerk.
Regarding today's subject, wild Atlantic salmon, the stocks have been declining for the past 50 years and 30% of Canada's east coast salmon rivers are not meeting sustainable spawning levels. In the case of the Miramichi River, which you've heard is the benchmark river for Atlantic salmon in the east in many cases, it has been three years since sustainable spawning levels were achieved, and only once in the past 10 years on the northwest Miramichi, which is an important branch of the main Miramichi River.
A 2010 Gardner-Pinfold study confirmed that the economic value of the Atlantic Canadian recreational fishery would be $150 million per year. This equates to approximately 3,300 full-time jobs, and in New Brunswick the economic impact was assessed at $54 million per year. In recent years most Atlantic salmon research has been left to a variety of non-governmental organizations such as the Miramichi Salmon Association, the Atlantic Salmon Federation, and the Restigouche River Watershed Management Council.
While these groups have done an excellent job, critical funding for research initiatives continues to be a significant challenge. Driven by the lack of government involvement in the salmon crisis, the Collaboration for Atlantic Salmon Tomorrow, CAST, was conceived in the fall of 2014. This effort is a combination of industry, 18 scientists, as well as a number of ENGOs. We believe that CAST is the most comprehensive group ever assembled with the goal of saving wild Atlantic salmon. The partners in this venture include Atlantic Salmon Federation; Miramichi Salmon Association; Restigouche River Watershed Management Council; J.D. Irving Ltd.; Cooke Aquaculture; John Dillon, U.S. chairperson of the Atlantic Salmon Federation; Canadian Rivers Institute; University of New Brunswick; and New Brunswick Salmon Council, as well as input and consultation with the aboriginal community.
The CAST science team is the largest ever formed to research wild Atlantic salmon conservation. This group's focus on six innovative research themes will result in over 25 projects to be trialled primarily on the Miramichi River system. CAST and our research initiatives should serve as a model for other eastern Canadian rivers facing the challenge of wild Atlantic salmon recovery. These projects will be completed over the next five years, with a proposed total project cost of $13 million of government and private sector contributions.
Phase one is $7 million and phase two is estimated at this time to be about $6 million. To date non-government partners have invested over $1 million, and we are currently awaiting approval of federal funding—meaning ACOA and DFO funding—as well as funding from the Province of New Brunswick. That funding will amount to $2.4 million from ACOA, $1.5 million from DFO, and $2.3 million from the Province of New Brunswick..
The six projects will include the development of a population and habitat data warehouse for fishery managers that will allow a consolidated view of all the science that's going on, which has been scattered and not easily accessible; innovative technology in sonar fish counting, which will give us a much better and more accurate inventory of what is going on in the river's population; predator studies on striped bass and cormorants; ocean tracking of Atlantic salmon to determine the potential causes of at-sea mortality; and thermal imaging of freshwater rivers to enhance cold-water habitat, as we're hoping to address the potential climate change issues. .
Last is a short-term program capturing seaward-migrating smolt, rearing them to adults, and releasing them back into their native rivers to spawn naturally, thus bypassing the high mortality now being seen during their transition to salt water. We will be stocking between 4,500 and 5,000 large fish going directly to the river to spawn. If you were looking at the natural return for 5,000 smolts, high estuary and at-sea mortality would be less than 100 adult fish returning.
Some of the projects we are looking at are cutting edge. For instance, on our ocean tracking project, we are working with the Lockheed Martin Corporation to find an innovative and cost-effective way to track Atlantic salmon to Greenland. That may be one of the most important ones, because we need to know where the inventory is and what's happening to these fish at sea.
To date, we have received very good support from both the New Brunswick provincial government and ACOA. There has been, however, an ongoing struggle to have constructive engagement from the regional DFO staff for the Gulf region, and I want to emphasize this. My comments are directed to that organization because I'm not familiar with other parts of the DFO organization.
This is particularly in regard to the Gulf region. They have been invited to attend numerous meetings over the past 18 months, but they have declined for one reason or another. This lack of engagement is not productive given that DFO is the ultimate authority on research approvals. We cannot afford to wait until the Atlantic salmon of the entire east coast are listed under the Species at Risk Act before we take action. A proactive approach is required.
It appears that the current federal strategy is to repopulate the river after the salmon population has disappeared, as has happened in many maritime rivers, rather than to study other approaches that might help. For example, CAST supports understanding the impact of raising wild salmon from local rivers to help repopulate the river, not as a permanent solution, but as a temporary one to increase the population.
In my view, what has brought CAST together to address the crisis facing wild Atlantic salmon is a shared sense of purpose, a vision for the future, and a willingness to act with urgency, based on good science. Our CAST partners have already devoted significant time, money, and other resources to ensure this initiative propels positive change in Atlantic salmon populations.
We applaud Minister Tootoo's recent announcement of $197 million towards freshwater and marine fisheries research. We are looking forward to seeing the details on the Atlantic salmon portion of this funding.
In conclusion, I'd like to make the following recommendations.
First, we need DFO Gulf region's immediate engagement at a local level, with a clear sense of purpose and urgency. This is a crisis. DFO will find a multitude of willing partners ready to engage on this effort.
Second, we need public accountability for DFO and all other parties who receive federal funding, highlighting clear, measurable objectives, with annual reporting on progress and executive summaries in layman's terms to engage all stakeholders, and a sustainability report on research results. This should not be done in silos. Performance reports should be consolidated by one party—maybe an accounting firm—to document and share the best ideas and avoid duplication of work and funding.
Third, in 1966 and 1967, recreational salmon anglers caught over 60,000 wild Atlantic salmon, and commercial fishermen harvested an additional 65,000 salmon from the Miramichi watershed. We recommend that DFO have an objective above the minimum population levels of Atlantic wild salmon. Today, the target is 23,000 large salmon and 23,000 grilse. Our CAST objective is to reach for a higher target and restore salmon populations to healthy, sustainable levels well above the minimum threshold to support a vibrant recreational fishery.
Thank you for this opportunity to address the standing committee on wild Atlantic salmon. Collectively, our efforts, with DFO leadership, will make a difference.
Thank you.