Poor management leads to over-fishing and habitat destruction, which in turn leads to the extinction of an incredible species, and yet, despite all odds, there still remains hope. It’s amazing what a few good people can do!
The following is an abstract taken from a scientific research article provided by an organization dedicated to the restoration of Atlantic Salmon. For more information visit the link provided at the bottom of this page.
Over-exploitation and habitat alteration has led to the extirpation of the Lake Ontario Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), a once abundant top predator. Reintroduction of Atlantic salmon has been actively pursued in recent years to restore waning biodiversity of the lake and provide economic benefits through recreational fishing. However, reintroduction efforts have been unsuccessful perhaps because of the presence of non-native and ecologically similar salmonids stocked in Lake Ontario. We conducted semi-natural stream experiments to examine aggressive and feeding behaviours exhibited by three stocks of juvenile Atlantic salmon when exposed to juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta), an aggressive non-native salmonid, and juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), a non-native species exhibiting considerable niche overlap with Atlantic salmon. We believe that interactions between Atlantic salmon and these non-native species are adversely affecting growth and survivorship of the Atlantic salmon during the critical freshwater juvenile stage of life.
However, the situation is not all gloomy! We are starting to see some fascinating returns on both the American and Canadian side of Lake Ontario - so much so, that New York is changing their mentality of stocking Atlantic Salmon from a put-and-take focus to restoration focus. Wihoo!!!! New York is starting to see our salmon on their side of the lake!
-Jessica Van Zwol, MSc. Biology, University of Western Ontario
For more information about restoration efforts concerning Atlantic Salmon please visit the main website concerning restoration efforts: