Project Overview

The Smolt to Adult supplementation (SAS) initiative is a conservation method where a declining salmon population is supplemented by mature adult fish to bypass the high at sea mortality.   Wild smolt, on their way to sea, are collected from 2 tributaries, LSW and NW, grown to adults at the Miramichi Salmon Association’s South Esk hatchery and then released to their natal river to spawn. An extensive monitoring program is in place to measure the success of the SAS fish compared to wild through genetic structuring, maturation rate, size at maturation, survival of eggs through to the start feeding stage.