Atlantic Salmon information from the Atlantic Salmon Federation and their submission to the DFO. What happened to the Atlantic Salmon population?

The full Atlantic Salmon Federation report can be read at http://asf.ca/asf-submission-to-dfo-survey-on-gulf-salmon-management.html

Taken from AFS's report is:
 "As noted by DFO, both large and small salmon (grilse) in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence have been declining over time, reaching in 2014 the lowest levels observed since monitoring began in 1971. For example, the Miramichi system (which historically had the largest known runs of Atlantic salmon in Canada) had average returns (small + large salmon) of around 100,000 per year from 1985-1995. That dropped to an average of about 50,000 per year from 1996-2011, and to about 21,000 per year from 2012-2014, reaching a low of around 17,800 in 2014. Likewise, rivers in the Northumberland Strait and Cape Breton regions of Nova Scotia had record or near-record low returns in 2014. Despite some signs of improvement in 2015 compared to the low year of 2014, populations throughout the region remain at low levels of abundance compared to 20 years ago. - 
"

Also taken from the same report:
"These measures also contributed to positive movement in other critical areas of fisheries management.  It enabled Canada to report to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) that it has taken steps to reduce fishing mortality on a stressed resource.  This assisted in creating pressure on Greenland to move toward reducing and better managing their fishery. In 2014, Greenland had a reported catch of 58 tonnes; however, it was determined that there was a high degree of non-reporting, resulting in an underestimate of the total harvest.  The actual harvest by Greenland in 2014 was potentially as high as 96 tonnes. In 2015, Greenland agreed to cap their 2015-2017 annual catch at 45 tonnes and, to counteract high levels of unreported catch, implement significantly stronger monitoring, control and reporting measures to ensure that the actual catch is capped at 45 tonnes.   It is also our understanding that the catch and release regulation has been taken into account by some First Nation communities, and therefore may have played a contributing role in moving toward selective fisheries (i.e. where large spawners can be released for conservation reasons) in certain areas such as the Miramichi - See more at: http://asf.ca/asf-submission-to-dfo-survey-on-gulf-salmon-management.html#sthash.7nqfeiNk.dpuf"

Lets do the math - Based on this information lets do the math.  If Greenland harvested 96 tons of salmon that equates to 211200 pounds of fish. Lets say the average fish weights 7 pounds  (grilse and salmon).  That is 30,171 fish harvested. There was only 17800 salmon enter the Miramichi system and most of those were released.  So the problem is the commercial Greenland harvest. 


Don't blame the natives for feeding their families or anglers. The DFO has to take a stand against Greenland.