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| A satellite rearing tank on the Sevogle |
Satellite Rearing
The satellite rearing program started in 1983, and was developed as a program to hatch and rear salmon fry at remote stream
sites. It has been a collaborative effort between MSA members, fishing camps and private companies in the
Miramichi Watershed. It commenced with salmon fishing clubs at Rocky Brook and Black Brook, and currently sites have up to
three tanks at 14 different locations throughout the Miramichi system.
This year there will be will be more than
20 tanks producing almost 125,000 first year Atlantic salmon or sea-run brook trout fingerlings over the course of the summer.
This program promotes direct investment in the fisheries resource by allowing individual camp owners to improve the survival
and growth of salmon fry during their first year of life. Fry are brought to the sites in early summer
and are released just before freeze-up in the fall. In late summer or early fall MSA staff travels to the
camps and assists in clipping off the adipose fin which marks the fry, so if it is recaptured later in life it can be identified
as a fish that was raised through the satellite rearing program or through the MSCC hatchery. If you are
interested in helping to stock the river with juvenile Atlantic salmon, but do not have the proper conditions or time to invest
in the satellite rearing program, donations can be made through the Riverstock Program, and juvenile salmon can be stocked
in a desired location on the Miramichi.
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| Thistle Club members at the satellite rearing site |
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| Releasing marked Little Southwest salmon fry into the river |
Beaver Dam Removal
Each fall the MSA increases the available spawning habitat to adult salmon by removing beaver dams on tributary streams.
Beaver dams can impede the upstream progress of adult salmon and can prevent them from reaching headwater spawning
areas, especially in years of low flow conditions. MSA staff canoe or hike into areas with known beaver
dams and removes old dams or notches active beaver dams just prior to or during the spawning time for Atlantic salmon.
Adult salmon which are held up below the dam can move upstream through the notch and the beaver later repairs the dam.
For example, starting with the removal of 22 beaver dams in 2007 and dam removal continuing each year, this program
has been very successful at improving the juvenile salmon numbers on Bett’s Mills Brook. Our electrofishing
survey from 2006-2008 indicated no fry and very few parr, however in 2009 high densities of fry were captured in the brook,
indicating that our persistent efforts at removing the dams were successful.
Stocking
Each year the MSA collects adult salmon
from different tributaries by seining pools or through angling by enlisting fishing lodges. Salmon are
collected in the fall of the year, a few weeks prior to spawning. When salmon are ready to spawn in mid-October
their eggs are expressed and fertilized. The eggs are incubated on brook water at the hatchery over the
winter and begin to feed in early June. The fry feed at the hatchery until late June then they are distributed
to the satellite rearing sites. The remainder of the fry remain at the MSCC until the fall of the year
when they are released. The adipose fin of the juvenile salmon is clipped, prior to stocking so that if
it is recaptured later, we can get accurate estimates on the survival of stocked fry. MSA staff then stock
the fingerling-sized salmon from the satellite rearing sites and the hatchery into priority headwaters areas based on the
juvenile densities determined by annual electrofishing surveys. Salmon fry are stocked into ten different
major tributaries of the Miramichi River, with the fry being returned to their tributary of origin. In the rivers and streams of the Miramichi Watershed, there are
two strains of brook trout, resident and sea-run. Resident trout spend their entire lives in freshwater
and typically have limited movement within the river system. Sea-run trout will travel hundreds of kilometres
to spawn in headwater areas but will use the estuary at different times of the year for feeding. Sea-run
trout also typically attain greater sizes than resident trout. The MSA and JD Irving Ltd. have a collaborative
project to stock sea-run brook trout into the Miramichi River. In addition, JD Irving Ltd., Northumberland
Salmon Protection Association and Miramichi Headwater Salmon Federation satellite tanks raise sea-run trout for stocking into
the headwaters and the lower portions of the Miramichi. A percentage of the trout are marked with a Carlin
tag or adipose clip. If you catch a brook trout with a Carlin tag or an adipose clip please mail in the
tag with the address printed on the back or contact Jenny Reid at 506-622-4000 or msajenny@nb.aibn.com with the date, tag number and location the fish was found.
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