As you inspect the grilse (1 sea winter fish) returns on the DFO web site you will see that grilse numbers were as low as 25% of 2004-2008 averages in many NB rivers, and this suggests that conditions were quite harsh (cold) in the Labrador Sea feeding grounds last winter.

While the marine environment was hard on fish from other NB rivers, the severity of the population decrease in the Saint John system was away out of proportion to that in other rivers with grilse numbers being 7% at Mactaquac and 4% on the Nashwaak of 2004- 2008 averages.

The crash of populations in the Saint John system in the mid 1990s was also much more severe than the declines experienced in the other NB rivers, and that “more severe decline” corresponded with the rapid rise of sea lice populations generated in Bay of Fundy salmon farms. [Read more…]