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Tim Robinson. Photo: ffhr.ca<\/p><\/div>\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n A chart shows changes in observed salmon returns at two major watersheds in Fundy National Park. Handout from Fort Folly Habitat Recovery.<\/p><\/div>\r\n There have also been improvements in the Petitcodiac watershed, according to Fort Folly Habitat Recovery.<\/p>\r\n In the coming months, the group is anticipating that adult salmon will be returning to those three rivers, with greater volumes in the years to come.<\/p>\r\n The Fundy Salmon Recovery Model involves collecting Atlantic salmon smolts \u2014 young salmon that are ready to migrate to the ocean \u2014 and rearing them at the Mactaquac Biodiversity Facility<\/a>, a Department of Fisheries and Oceans complex near Fredericton.<\/p>\r\n The mature fish are mated to ensure genetic diversity, and then released into their home rivers, according to the department. DFO conducts a genetic analysis of those fish at the Mactaquac facility, a \u201clive gene bank\u201d that yields about half a million eggs annually for Inner Bay repopulation efforts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Map from Department of Fisheries and Oceans<\/p><\/div>\r\n Fort Folly Habitat Recovery also worked with the group Petitcodiac Riverkeeper to lobby successfully for the removal of the river causeway in Moncton, which disrupted salmon populations along that river after it was built in the 1960s. In 2021, it was replaced with a bridge spanning the Petitcodiac, a river that's sacred to Fort Folly First Nation.<\/p>\r\n The habitat recovery project has also resulted in employment for Indigenous youth, who are trained as river technicians<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n The group has released more than one million unfed fry \u2013 fish at an early developmental phase \u2013 into the Petitcodiac Watershed, along with more than 8,000 mature adults, re-establishing the population. Just last week, they \u201creleased a total of over 100,000 Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon fry\u201d into that watershed.<\/p>\r\n And Robinson says these methods could be reproduced in other rivers, including ones closer to home, like the Tantramar and the Memramcook Rivers.<\/p>\r\n Efforts by Fort Folly Habitat Recovery have grown over the years to include a long list of partnerships, including Cooke Aquaculture, the fish farming company, which manages the Wild Salmon Marine Conservation Farm<\/a> at Dark Harbour, Grand Manaan Island.<\/p>\r\n Workers at that facility, which is billed as the first of its kind in the world, grow juvenile salmon in \u201cconservation sea pens\u201d before mature adults are released to spawn.<\/p>\r\n The CEO of that company, Glenn Cooke, has hailed the initiative<\/a> as an \u201can ideal model for action oriented, science-based conservation efforts.\u201d<\/p>\r\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.chmafm.com\/welcome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-21-at-13.57.51.jpg\")
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