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There are about 79 rivers in New Brunswick, 176
rivers in Nova Scotia, 6 rivers in Prince Edward Island, and 266 rivers
in Newfoundland and Labrador that are believed to have Atlantic salmon
populations. Not all of them have been sampled to make sure that salmon
live in them. In other places in the region, rivers have lost their
populations due to dams and other environmental problems. This happened
in Lake Ontario, too. There used to be salmon in the rivers draining
to the lake, but those populations are now extinct.
The Miramichi and Restigouche Rivers, two of the
most famous salmon rivers in the world, are both in New Brunswick. Up
to 150,000 adult Atlantic salmon can enter the Miramichi River every
year. Scientists are not yet sure how many fish come into the Restigouche
River, but ongoing research programs like those of J. D. Irving are
helping to figure this out. Special fences with traps in them are being
put in these two river systems to catch salmon as they are moving upstream,
count them, then let them move on their way.
Tourists come from all over the world to fish for
salmon on these and the other rivers in the Maritimes. The fish are
so different in their characteristics from river to river that fishermen
want to try out many different rivers. This provides jobs for people
in the Maritimes. The recreational angling industry has replaced most
of the commercial net fishing for Atlantic salmon, which now only occurs
in a small area in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the coast of Quebec.
Angling has become so popular that special regulations are in place
to control it. Fishermen in most places can not keep all the salmon
they catch, because it could seriously hurt salmon populations. Native
peoples (Indians and Inuit) depend on salmon in these regions, too,
for food and ceremonial purposes.
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