Assessing Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) recovery across five Atlantic Canadian National Parks through juvenile abundance modelling
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Date
2024-12
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University of New Brunswick
Abstract
For decades, Atlantic salmon in Eastern North America have precipitously declined. In response, Fundy National Park (FNP) and Cape Breton Highlands National Park (CBHNP) implemented smolt-to-adult supplementation strategies within marine and freshwater rearing environments, respectively, Kouchibouguac National Park (KNP) planted fertilized eggs, and Gros Morne (GMNP) and Terra Nova National Park (TNNP) used community-based restoration approaches. To assess juvenile salmon population abundance through decline and restoration implementation of these parks, a Bayesian hierarchical model was developed to standardize single-pass and multi-pass electrofishing methodology, and estimate an index of juvenile density, at site and annual scale, using an electrofishing dataset covering 536 sites, over 49 years, across 24 rivers. Single-pass sites lack the accuracy of multi-pass methods but are an efficient sampling approach from a full catchment perspective. Increasing population trends were shown in some rivers (FNP, KNP), while others exhibited continued declines (CBHNP, KNP, GMNP) or modelling challenges (CBHNP, TNNP).