Habitat recovery program hand-delivers salmon to Petitcodiac River

The Fort Folly Habitat Recovery program released 200 Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon into a tributary of the PetitcodiacRiver on Monday.

The ready-to-spawn adult salmon were provided by the Mactaquac Biodiversity Facility through the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

"[The hope is] that they are going to spawn in the river this fall and produce the next generation of wild inner bay salmon here in the Petitcodiac," said Tim Robinson, manager of Fort Folly Habitat Recovery program.

The fish were unloaded one at a time from two trucks. Each was placed into a rubber sackand then carried to the river where they were released.

Robinson said the crew hasbeen doing this for six years now, ever since the Petitcodiac causeway gates opened up.

"We are hoping to build a mass of wild salmon into the Petitcodiac system," said Robinson.

"We are hoping that the more adults we release will produce the next generation never exposed to any captivity... We are hoping this approach will recover the fish from the brink of extinction."

Robinson said the fish will spawn within the next week or two. The eggs will incubate overthewinter and hopefully hatch by next spring.

Another 200 salmon will be released again in the same spot on Tuesday.