Miramichi River cold-water enhancement program

Atlantic salmon in the Miramichi are assessed as Special Concern by COSEWIC, and are struggling to meet conservation minimums. Miramichi Atlantic salmon face a variety of marine and freshwater threats, including increasingly stressful or lethal high temperature events (i.e., water temperature >22oC). The project team seeks to address the warm water issue and create a climate-change-resilient river system. This will be accomplished by enhancing cold-water habitats to serve as thermal refugia for adult and juvenile Atlantic salmon during high temperature events. The program builds on past enhancement work carried out by the Miramichi Salmon Association and thermal imagery collected by UNB to map watershed-scale thermal habitats. The program will identify 11 refugia sites with high potential to serve as more effective refugia, and then implement enhancement work using principles of fluvial geomorphology to ensure sustainable, long-lasting projects to benefit the future of wild Atlantic salmon.

Contact:

James P. Ward

jamespward314@gmail.com

506 627 2730