Eastern Kings Salmon Restoration Project. Enhancement project on the upper reaches of 4 rivers, beaver dam removal, digger logs installed etc.

Within the Souris & Area Management Zone we have four (4) of the ten (11) rivers on PEI that are assessed as Class 1 Wilderness Rivers by Dr. Daryl Guignon in his interim report to the Atlantic Salmon Conservation Foundation. Each of these rivers has reasonable annual native Atlantic Salmon runs. The objective of this proposal would to be do the necessary enhancement work as prescribed by Dr. Daryl Guignon’s report (section 6.1) to sustain and enhance the habitat for these fish over the next three (3) years.

Since these rivers have received the classification of Class 1 Wilderness Rivers, they will receive our top priority within our management zone which includes 19 watersheds. These rivers are pristine and have little or no agricultural influence.
The objective of this proposal would be to enhance these rivers to the recipe prescribed in Dr. Guignon’s report which will improve the habitat and eventually numbers of native Atlantic Salmon in each of these rivers (North Lake, Naufrage, Priest Pond and Cross River).
The outcomes will lead to healthy stocks of Native Atlantic Salmon in each of these rivers and eventually may lead to a restricted Atlantic Salmon sports fishery.

We also have Souris River which has been designated as a “Research River” by Dr. Guignon Report. In this river we have reintroduced 4000 Atlantic Salmon in 2009. We have 6 zones (3 per branch) set up with experimentation methods by Dr. Daryl Guignon which will lead to developing the most successful struvtures that can be incorporated to other rivers on PEI.

This project will be a multi- year project (3 yrs) this is year two, which will see enhancement activities on the five rivers (North Lake, Cross River, Priest Pond, Naufrage and Souris). The general direction would to be get the upper reaches of these four rivers more suitable for spawning over the first two years. Special emphasis will be placed on getting tidal sections on the North Lake and Naufrage systems installed with structures to create pools in the third year that would be maintained in future years by the Souris Branch. The goal would be to enable a restricted fishery within the next five years.
This project will involve the hiring of three people. A certified chainsaw operator with experience regarding brushmatting, installation of digger logs, careful extraction of debris, etc. It would also involve one university student and one high school that would basically be healthy individuals that have an interest in the environment and a strong work ethic. These individuals will do the necessary work as prescribed in Dr. Guignon’s report on the North Lake, Priest Pond, Cross River and Naufrage Rivers.

Each of these rivers have many similar problems; beaver dams, alders, silt, natural blockages, etc. These problems must be rectified in order to sustain healthy native stocks.

Each of these rivers have received some sort of enhancement work over the last 15 years, which is more than likely the reason that we do have a native salmon runs. In rivers where enhancement work wasn’t consistent we have lost our salmon runs. The problem is that our Management Area is so large that it becomes a must to dedicate a specific staff only to those rivers.

In 2010 we will be starting on May 17th and completion of instream work on Aug 20th.

1. Count the # of beaver dams removed.
2. Measure the number of kilometres of river that was maintained and illustrate on maps.
3. Measure the number of kilometres of river that was newly opened up and illustrate on maps.
4. Measure in metres and photograph the stretches of river brush matted and illustrate on maps.
5. Count, GPS and photograph the number digger logs installed and illustrate on maps.
6. Count, GPS and photograph the number of diversion structures installed and illustrate on maps.
7. Count, GPS and photograph silt traps installed and illustrate on maps.
8. Count, GPS and photograph other blockages incurred and illustrate on maps if deemed necessary.
9. Count, GPS and map each fall, the salmon redds on each river and their tributaries.
10. Count, GPS and photograph any new structures installed.
11. Measure the distance of trails (access) created on each of the rivers specified above.