Federal funding cuts hurting Atlantic salmon

The Atlantic Salmon Federation is blaming the federal government's funding cuts for the worsening situation of the wild salmon population.

The salmon federation argues less money means less research into ways to bring the salmon back to Canadian rivers.

'At a time when the Atlantic salmon need the most help from our federal government, the resources just aren't there.' — Bill Taylor, president of the Atlantic Salmon Federation

Bill Taylor, the president of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, a group dedicated to saving the wild fish from extinction, said fewer salmon are coming back to spawn in their home rivers

Taylor said the federal government seems to be losing interest in the salmon. Funding for projects that range from conservation initiatives to research has gone from a high of $24 million in 1985 to $12 million in 2010.

"When you take what wild Atlantic salmon populations are doing in Canada, they're on a very serious decline," Taylor said.

"So at a time when the Atlantic salmon need the most help from our federal government, the resources just aren't there."

For example, Taylor said scientists need to figure out what is happening to the salmon during their ocean migration where so many young salmon disappear.

"Twelve million dollars isn't even close, and certainly we feel for the good people who work for [Department of Fisheries and Oceans] and there are lots of them both in Ottawa and in the regions," Taylor said.

A DFO spokesman did not comment.

The federation made the sharp criticism of Ottawa's funding less than a month before the federal government hosts an international treaty conference that will be attended by all countries that have Atlantic salmon.

According to the federation, Canada's population of wild Atlantic salmon fell to 418,000 in 2001 from 1.8 million in 1973. The salmon federation states that the population rebounded slightly in 2009 from 2001, but that coincided with "a severe drop" in the number of smaller salmon that returned to their spawning rivers.

The Atlantic Salmon Federation has regional branches in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Maine and western New England.