By Josefa Cameron
People with experience on the Margaree River say increasingly drastic weather patterns are changing the conditions for the river and Atlantic salmon.
Bill Haley served as president of the Margaree Salmon Association (MSA) for six years. He said in an interview with SaltWire Network the river conditions are constantly shifting and hurricane Fiona exasperated these changes last fall.
“We’re seeing more and more high-water events like Fiona and less and less ice in the watershed over the winter,” he said.
With harsh weather events some pools in the river are made deeper and some are filled in. In some instances, the river will change its direction and some pools will be lost entirely. But, Haley said, for every pool that is lost a pool will be gained; such is the way the river ebbs and flows.
High-water events carry sand, gravel and rocks down the river and deposit them in other parts of the river. Haley pointed out the Etheridge Pool, which is adjacent to the Cabot Trail, now has seven feet of gravel and topsoil between the river and the road because of erosion. This has been reported to the Department of Public Works, the province, and the Department of Transportation. The area manager, Steve McDonnell, has assured the MSA corrective measures are in the works.
“If we have any significant high-water events over the winter, I would not be surprised at all if the Cabot Trail would be closed,” he said.
The Margaree River has the healthiest population of salmon in Nova Scotia. Haley believes stocks are currently in good shape and the escapement numbers in the Margaree River have been met every year for the last 40 to 50 years.
“We have a pretty stable population of fish in this river. Typically, it’s probably running between 3,500 to 5,500,” Haley said.
The river has a catch-and-release policy as the retention of salmon is a First Nations harvest.
“And we see here in the Margaree a very responsible First Nations harvest,” Haley said.
It’s difficult to determine if the changes have impacted the salmon population because this year’s spawning population won’t return until three to five years.
Haley said the Baddeck River and Middle River’s salmon populations are increasing. He attributes this to the Margaree Fish Hatchery broodstock stocking program. The hatchery collects broodstock from the Mabou River, Middle River and Baddeck River. The protégé is then reintroduced back into those rivers.
Despite these efforts, the lack of snow, especially in the highlands, will affect water levels in the spring and summer said Haley.
“You want to have a significant snowfall in the highlands and a gradual melt to maintain good, healthy water levels in the river for salmon and for all the animals that use it.”
He said humans look at the river and think they understand whether the changes are good or bad, but it’s ultimately the fish that know what they like and don’t like.
Haley conducted an assessment with conservation and habitat restoration specialists after Fiona. They learned from a human’s perspective, some areas looks messy but salmon might be flourishing there.
Paddy Poirier is an experienced fishing guide who has been fishing in the Margaree River for more than 40 years. He said over the span of his time on the river, there have been countless weather-related changes, and each year there are more.
The weather conditions last month were particularly impactful.
“Normally we had a few feet of snow and frost and freeze in the ground. (Last month we) had rain … and a little bit of snow. This type of weather causes quite a bit of erosion because the banks aren’t frozen,” he said.
The area also gets a drought in warmer months, Poirier said, which causes everything dry and hard-packed, making rain non-absorbable. This causes tremendous runoff, Poirier said, where in the case of hurricane Fiona, the river rose about 10 feet in a matter of a couple of days.
As a guide, Poirier said some pools he fished last year have changed or are gone this year, meaning he has had to relearn some of the spots where the salmon rest.
“When you have salmon that come up into the pool, they have certain spots that they like to sit, they like it behind a rock or a log that’s under the water,” he said.
With the increasing floods, some of these holding areas for the salmon are filled over or gone.
“They like nice rocky/gravelly bottoms that they can make the beds in and spawn (and when) the bottoms get filled in with silt and stuff like that, it’ll change the habits of the fish,” he said.
Since Fiona, Poirier said some pools in the river, like Doyle’s Pool, had their key fishing locations washed away. He fishes with a two-handed rod, but people who fish with a single hand can no longer access the pool.
“Where I’d normally stand on dry ground, I was standing in water up to my chest,” he said.
Poirier chalks the changes up to human impact, “from clearing the land to harvest the forests, we’ve had a major impact and we got to do what we can to help,” he said. “You’re not going to stop the erosion, but try to slow it down. A river will always change its flow, but our impact on the river is causing it to speed up in its changes.”
