Canada’s Contribution to the Salmon At Sea Program and other Collaborative Atlantic Salmon Science Initiatives

Many wild Atlantic salmon originating from the rivers of Canada, as well as the United States and countries across Europe, migrate to feed in waters off West Greenland before returning to spawn in their rivers of origin.

Canada is an active participant in the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization Salmon At Sea Program, which encourages collaborative science activities directed at a better understanding of the causes of mortality of salmon at sea. Salmon At Sea links research, information and data gathering systems, and related activities on salmon across the North Atlantic to provide a complete picture of the Atlantic salmon's life cycle.

In the most recent years, 2010 and 2011, the equivalent of more than $2 million dollars has been invested by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and its partners on scientific projects that address the priorities of the Salmon At Sea program. These projects include:

• genetic identification to determine stock origin;
• examination of scales for biological data;
• biological characteristics of smolts and their relation to marine mortality;
• influence of freshwater contamination on marine survival; and
• use of acoustic technologies developed in Canada to track the migration and distribution of Atlantic salmon during its lifecycle in freshwater and marine environments.

Canada is also a key participant in the annual West Greenland Sampling Program. In this program, scientists from North America and Europe sample the catches of Atlantic salmon in the West Greenland fishery, and collect length and weight information, and scale and tissue samples to determine the age, origin and health of the salmon. The catch is also examined for tags on salmon to identify where the fish came from. This is an opportunity for scientists to sample Atlantic salmon from Canadian stocks at a specific time and place in the Atlantic salmon’s life cycle at sea. In 2009 and 2010, and again in 2011, Canada provided a fisheries technician to this international sampling program which in these three years includes an enhanced sampling protocol to collect additionnal biological data and tissues as part of the Salmon At Sea program.