Salmon fishery in Cape Breton to get boost from Inverness anglers group

Joan Weeks · CBC News · Posted: Jul 27, 2016 8:30 AM AT | Last Updated: July 27, 2016

An anglers association in Cape Breton is excited about funding it's received to restore what it says was once the province's most populated salmon river.

Geoff Nishi, of the Inverness South Anglers Association says "the lion's share" of the new funding will be spent on work to rebuild a recreational salmon fishery in Graham River south of Judique. 

Only a small salmon run exists there in present day, Nishi said. 

"That river was identified in, I believe it was 1874, as being the most productive salmon river in the province per square meter," he said. 

Nishi says the group will also work on Captains Brook in Inverness County.

'Logging practices' changed rivers

The association will get $40,000 a year for three years from the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnership — a Fisheries and Oceans federal program.

The volunteer-run organization Wild Salmon Unlimited will provide $50,000 a year for three years.

Nishi says the group will use heavy equipment to remove gravel banks that have formed at the lower end of Graham River because they prevent the salmon from passing.

"Up river, many sections of the river have straightened out and that was due to logging practices," he said. "That has created long stretches of rapids."

Nishi says the association will clear debris from the rivers and create salmon pools where fish can rest before tackling the rapids.

He expects to see significant changes in three years. 

"If we can get a run of 1,500 salmon a year," he said. "Once we establish that threshold then the salmon will come back so it would be easy to say that within 10 years we might have 4,000 to 5,000 salmon on a yearly basis."