North Arm Enhancement
Salmon Enhancement of the North Arm River
Holyrood, Conception Bay
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Prepared by:
Brian Hoffe and Michael Tubrett
North Arm River Restoration Committee
Town of Holyrood
P.O. Box 100
Holyrood, Newfoundland
A0A 2R0
The North Arm River is one of only three scheduled Atlantic salmon rivers located in Conception Bay, its mouth being situated in the North Arm of the smaller Holyrood Bay. The North Arm River has an axial length of 17.37 kilometres and its drainage basin occupies an area of 85.98 square kilometres. Its drainage pattern is probably best described as parallel to dendritic and the stream channel varies in width from less than 10 metres to greater than 30 metres over its length. Water depth can vary from a few tens of centimetres to more than 2 metres in some of the deeper pools and steadies.
Being situated in the early inhabited and now heavily populated Conception Bay, the North Arm River's salmon stock has been probably been subjected to greater exploitation than most other rivers of the province. Excessive harvesting from the commercial salmon fishery as well as heavy inshore netting by the myriad of cod and capelin traps, mackerel and herring nets and other multi-species traps within Conception Bay has been detrimental to the North Arm stock.
This is substantiated by the commercial catch data from 1974 to 1991 for Salmon Fishing Area 7 which encompasses all of Conception Bay. These data clearly show an alarming decline in total landings over this 17 year period. It is assumed that, of this total catch, some small percentage would have been adult fish spawned from the North Arm River. Thus the commercial catch data may be a gross indicator of the North Arm stock and, if this is the case, it demonstrates that this stock is in crisis. Fortunately, with the recent moratoriums imposed on both the commercial salmon and cod fisheries, it is hoped that the river's salmon population will stabilize and numbers of returning adults will increase in future years.
The angling statistics for the North Arm River from 1973 to 1992 can further illustrate the poor state of river's salmon stock. Although there is a high degree of variability in the Catch Per Unit Effort or C.P.U.E., a linear regression of this data shows a clear and steady decline in catches on the North Arm River. If the declines seen in both the C.P.U.E. and commercial catch data are not reversed or stabilized, it is conceivable that this salmon stock could tragically disappear from the river forever.
Another serious and pressing problem faced by the North Arm River salmon stock is inland poaching. Although not unique to this river, this despicable practice has also taken its toll on the North Arm stock. Local residents recall when the river supported much healthier runs of salmon during the 1940s and 1950s but, unfortunately, they also sadly remember the vile actions of poachers. It was not unusual for a single poacher using a net to catch in excess of a hundred fish during the course of the summer. At a price of thirty-five cents per pound, this was a lucrative summer income during the 1940s. Not surprisingly, the days of abundant salmon are now only a distant memory for the many residents of Holyrood.
A further problem unique to the North Arm River was the substantial loss of spawning and rearing habitat due to the improper placement of culverts. The only major tributary of the North Arm system is Daniel's Brook which drains Little Triangle Pond and provides access to an estimated 50% of the watershed south of the Trans-Canada Highway (T.C.H.) via Big Triangle Pond. Culverts installed in this portion of the waterway during the initial construction of the highway in 1961 created a velocity barrier preventing further upstream movement to migrating anadromous fish. As a result, a major portion of the North Arm's watershed was made inaccessible to adult fish returning to the river to spawn. This situation remained until 1991 when upgrading and reconstruction of the T.C.H. replaced these culverts with ones which would allow upstream migration of adult fish to the head waters of the North Arm river system. Thus for a thirty year period, this habitat of the North Arm watershed was essentially removed from production and must have had an adverse effect on the health of the North Arm salmon stock.
Given the seriousness of the information indicated by the commercial catch data, angling statistics and local knowledge , the Town of Holyrood, in the early months of 1993, appointed a committee of council to institute an action plan to save the salmon of this local river. The North Arm River Restoration Committee, which consists of concerned citizens and salmon anglers, formulated and subsequently submitted a proposal to the Canada/Newfoundland Cooperation Agreement for Salmonid Enhancement and Conservation (C.A.S.E.C.). This proposal requested funding under the stock assessment and cooperative enforcement programs of this federal/provincial cooperation agreement and was eventually successful in receiving approximately $20,000 to carry out a stock assessment of the North Arm River's salmonid stocks.
An important outcome of the 1993 assessment work was the calculation of the salmon production potential of the watershed as a whole as determined from stream surveying. Using the stream survey data in association with smolt production numbers currently in use by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the North Arm system was shown to be able to produce a minimum of 8,582 smolt. If a sea survival rate of 5% to 10% is used, the North Arm system should have an annual adult production of 429 to 858 fish respectively. Given there were only 30 grilse enumerated during the 1993 season, the river's enhancement potential is in excess of 800 fish.
The successful completion of the 1993 stock assessment provided sound knowledge that the river's production potential was far from being realized. As such, the Committee formulated and submitted a proposal to C.A.S.E.C.'s salmon enhancement program as a logical continuation of the work that was started in 1993. This proposal was successful in receiving approximately $27,000 to initiate a salmon enhancement project for the North Arm River during the 1994 season .
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