Letting Rivers Run Wild: Broad Range Monitoring of iBoF Atlantic Salmon

ACAP Saint John will expand our monitoring efforts in Black River, an iBoF river, to confirm salmon presence and abundance. The presence of salmon was confirmed in this once thought to extirpated river through eDNA sampling in 2019 and 2022 (awaiting results). ACAP will continue to monitor for salmon using eDNA sampling and will expand the effort to include targeted electrofishing surveys and fyke netting to confirm the presence of salmon, determine abundance, and begin to understand if there is movement of fish between managed and unmanaged iBoF rivers. To accomplish this, salmon captured will be aged, measured, PITT tagged, and a genetic sample taken before release. A partnership with Dr. Samways will ensure that staff are properly trained for tagging and that we have the expertise to help understand the movement of salmon between rivers. Education initiatives will also be completed to educate the public on salmon conservation.

Project Contact: Roxanne MacKinnon – Executive Director – roxanne@acapsj.org