In the three rivers in Labrador where counting took place—the English River, which branches out of Lake Melville; the Sand Hill River between Cartwright and Black Tickle; and the Paradise River,—the counts went down 10 percent, 58 percent and 56 percent respectively. The numbers are compared to the five-year average.
The number of large salmon for the Sand Hill River went down by more than 75 percent. Salmon there went down from 4696 to 1930,
Bill Taylor, president of the Atlantic Salmon Federation said the numbers are worrying.
“These figures certainly raise concerns about what’s going on in Labrador,“ he said.
Mr. Taylor said there may be several factors in this decline but that the obvious factor when it comes to Labrador is the impact of the various Labrador fisheries.
The Innu, Inuit and Métis fisheries are interceptory fisheries, which means they intercept fish that are bound for a lot of different rivers in Labrador.
These fisheries are also net fisheries.
“It’s obvious when the only area in all of eastern Canada which is showing a downward trend is Labrador and that’s the only place where you have coastal net fisheries,” he said.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.”
“The nets don’t differentiate between male and female or large salmon and small salmon,” Mr. Taylor said.
“That impacts negatively on conservation, no question.”
These fisheries often take place in the estuaries and along the coast. Mr. Taylor said that is where the fish travel—close to the coastline and the fish in the estuaries are often bound for other rivers and are predominantly female, carrying the eggs for that particular river.
“Year after year after year, the impact of those fisheries are catching up with us and perhaps we are seeing the downturn because of that,” he said.
“There could be other factors at play, no question, but that is something that is man induced and can be addressed through better conservation and more precautionary management practices.”
He said there could also be environmental issues, and a predator- prey relationship at play.
Labrador has the only coastal salmon fishery in the province and in Atlantic Canada. The Metis are allocated 10 tonnes of salmon as a group. The same applies for the Inuit of Labrador. The Innu are allocated 2 tonnes of salmon.
"It’s obvious when the only area in all of eastern Canada which is showing a downward trend is Labrador and that’s the only place where you have coastal net fisheries" - Bill Taylor, president of the Atlantic Salmon Federation
Mr. Taylor said they recognize the right to fish by first nations and the right for food for social and ceremonial purposes. He said the first nations groups he has spoken to share his concerns.
“If those fisheries continue to have the impact that they do, it won’t be long before there aren’t enough fish to fish for in Labrador anyway,” he said.
He said the Federation has been in talks with DFO and the various aboriginal groups about these issues.
Don Ivany is a member of the Atlantic Salmon Federation is Corner Brook. He said that at Atlantic Salmon Advisory committee meetings with DFO, the department has said that reporting from individual bands is not as good or as accurate as it has been in previous years.
He said there are measures that can be taken where everyone still has their fishing rights but some of the practices change.
Currently the net fishery involves Gill nets, which trap and kill anything that swims into it.
“We would like to see more selective types of nets so these fish could be caught alive,” he said.
Mr. Ivany also said it was a well-known fact that larger salmon tend to return to the rivers first.
“These are the ones we’d like to be protecting,” he said.
The larger the fish, Mr. Ivany explained, the more eggs they carry. One 10lb salmon would have twice the amount of eggs as a five-pound salmon.
A delay in the opening of the salmon fishery would protect these larger salmon and allow hundreds or thousands of fish to make it back to the river.
Mr. Ivany also said there are approximately 100 salmon rivers in Labrador. DFO only has counting facilities on three of these rivers.
“Good management is based on good scientific data,” he said.
“Because we don’t know, it’s not an excuse to harvest more.”
“We should be operating from a prevention point of view.
The Labradorian contacted DFO but they did not offer comment before publishing time.
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