Mr. Chairman, committee members, support staff, and fellow presenters, it's an honour to appear before this important resource committee to discuss the issue of wild Atlantic salmon. This committee may, through its report, do much to help restore this vital species.
By way of background, I live on the main Southwest Miramichi River, as did my ancestors for the past 200 years. Since our arrival, like our neighbours, we have always in one way or another been dependent on Atlantic salmon for food, employment, or recreation. This species is, and has been, as much a part of our lives as the forests that surround the river valley, the river, and the air.
Like others, I have angled for salmon, guided sports fishermen and women, and worked in various capacities to help conserve and enhance this signal species. Being minister of natural resources from 1987 to 1991 afforded me the opportunity to make some progress for the salmon by instituting province-wide fish habitat enhancement programs, working with dedicated volunteers in initiating river cleanups, maintaining existing salmon barriers, establishing two new salmon barriers, and working co-operatively with the federal government to facilitate one first nation's entry into angling outfitting rather than net-based salmon harvest. Discussions were under way with several others when I retired from politics. An offshoot of those discussions was the establishment of an aboriginal enforcement arm regulating local fisheries on their waters.
During my political life, and later as a writer and researcher, I've spoken to the salmon elders, some of whom had been involved in the river fishery for more than 70 years. From this, I determined that not all knowledge is learned in the classroom. We have much to learn from their wisdom and knowledge.
All of these various experiences have led me to the following conclusions. The sophisticated Atlantic salmon, which exhibits remarkable survival skills and adaptability, faces a deteriorating environment and increased threats in its spawning rivers, migratory routes, and ocean feeding zones. Much of the distressed environment is the fault of human activity, while some of it can be attributed to natural, earth-generated changes. All we can do is address those things we can change, and begin now to assure the best results.
Some of the problems at home begin with the spawning streams themselves. Two of the greatest threats are habitat destruction by intrusive industrial forestry practices resulting in warming of river water and subsequent siltation of gravel spawning beds, and improper road construction with similar consequences. I want to point out that this isn't necessarily something that only large companies do. It's done on private woodlots, as well.
River warming results when there's destruction of cold-water springs that feed into small streams that eventually end up in main rivers. Reduction of protective shading setback barriers are another part of the problem. Salmon are a cold-water species that die when river temperatures rise into the eighties. Keeping the rivers cold is equivalent to closing the fridge and freezer doors at home. We've been leaving our river door open.
Another problem is the virtual elimination of federal and provincial fisheries officers present along salmon rivers, which allows poachers freedom to illegally harvest large numbers of salmon from remaining cold-water pools, reducing substantially the number of large multi-winter spawners that lay their eggs to begin another life cycle. I can remember when there would be two wardens watching three salmon pools that were put together. Now there are none.
Other threats to salmon are rapid population increases of salmon-predator species, like striped bass, merganser ducks, cormorants, and seals. Current management practices have allowed an imbalance in these species' numbers, which threatens the salmon's existence. Of course, it is well established that international overfishing of salmon on its feeding grounds reduces their numbers as well.
The first step in the restoration project for this federal government is to become involved in a number of ways to fulfill its leadership role in fish management. The first part begins at home.
I have a suggestion to make, and I'm going to sort of cut to the chase on this. If the Department of Fisheries and Oceans really wants to address the wild Atlantic salmon issue, it should do the following. Set up a proactive task force within the department dedicated to that end, one equipped with the finances and selected people to achieve success. Have it begin by tweaking existing management policies by addressing the immediate concerns, such as salmon predator imbalance, enforcement protection, and habitat protection. Broaden the existing management plans by including all salmon habitats, from the spawning rivers to their feeding grounds and back. Go to work on such items as data-gathering, gathering existing or generating new scientific studies of particular problems unique to particular estuaries and rivers. Recognize that any management plan is organic and must change as new information becomes available. Have them dust off the shelved 2,300 scientific studies to find relevant wisdom for current application. Recognize that an important part of this work is to diplomatically work with, rather than at, various partners. In that vein, co-operate and coordinate with the provinces, first nations, NGOs, river management groups, and individual citizens on specific parts of this overall plan.
By utilizing all the resources at hand, develop short-, medium-, and long-term plans within the overall management plan. Encourage other salmon-producing nations to do the same, while working with them to get this problem solved. Inaction is fatal. Focused, determined action with all partners will bring success in salmon restoration.
Thank you.