"This has happened numerous times and will happen again," he said. "There is a six year life cycle. It's only one bad year out of a six year cycle."
Mr. Bourgeois said salmon levels dropped to an unprecedented level in 2007 but in 2008 the level was at one of it highest points.
He said it is a concern when the numbers are dropping year after year but that is not the case in this situation.
The Atlantic Salmon Federation expressed its concern over the salmon decline and attributed the decline at least partially to Labrador having the only coastal net fishery in Atlantic Canada. The salmon numbers were up everywhere in Atlantic Canada and Quebec except in Labrador and Conne River, NL.
ASF president Bill Taylor said the First Nations band in Conne River has done exceedingly well in terms if it's conservation efforts. He suggested that one explanation for their salmon numbers dropping was their proximity to the French Island of St. Pierre and Miquelon and the nets set by the fishermen from those islands.
As for the decline in Labrador salmon, Mr. Taylor did not offer one single explanation but said there was a probability that the low numbers had something to do with the coastal fishery and the net fisheries being carried out by the Aboriginal groups in Labrador. He did not say that the groups themselves were responsible for the drop in numbers but that better management practices could assure survival of the large female species who are capable of laying more eggs and thus producing more salmon.
Mr. Bourgeois did admit that some of the practices were of concern but he said it was more the events that happen while at sea that determines how many salmon will return at a particular time to a particular area. He said factors that are ongoing in the ocean could account for as much as a 50 percent fluctuation in return rates.
David Ball works with resource management for DFO. He said the department is making some changes in Labrador this year. First of all, he said there will no longer be salmon fishing permitted North of Cape Charles and secondly, groups who were originally permitted a by-catch of 4 salmon (salmon caught in nets when fishing for other species of fish) would see the number reduced to three next year.
Mr. Ball said there is an annual meeting in early 2011, usually in January every year, in which different interested groups including the aboriginal groups and other interest groups would get together and discuss salmon management practices amongst other things.
He said the final numbers are not out yet as the season isn't closed so it is too soon to draw conclusions. He said he suspected numbers would be down this year.
The Atlantic Salmon Federation said it would like to see more counting facilities on the Labrador salmon fishing rivers but Mr. Bourgeois said the number of counting facilities was appropriate in comparison to the island. He said there are currently 186 salmon fishing rivers in the province. 156 of these are in Newfoundland and 30 are in Labrador. He said Newfoundland has 11 counting facilities and Labrador has four.
Mr. Ball said when the rest of the results of this years salmon fishery come in, DFO will analyze the data. This generally happens in October.
.jpg)
.jpg)
