Wildlife officials try to solve fish mystery near Murray River

Wildlife officials on P.E.I. are trying to figure out why young salmon are showing up in MacLure's Pond near Murray River.

Fishermen began noticing smolt swimming in the pond this spring, but how the juvenile salmon got there is a mystery.

The province says it has never stocked the pond, and says very few salmon, if any, are found in nearby rivers.

The manager of the fish hatchery in nearby Dover says the fish didn't come from his facility either.

One possibility

There's one possible explanation, according to Lewis Hinks, with the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

"Wild salmon return into the rivers in which they were spawned by and large," said Hinks. "In fact, sometime they return to the very pool in which they were spawned, so their homing instinct is very strong.

"But there is some straying, fish do get lost for lack of a better word and move into another river system, maybe liking the habitat there, decide to spawn and start a population in that river system."

Hinks said he's working with P.E.I.wildlife officials to try to figure out where the salmon came from, and that they may tag the fish to keep track of them.

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