01/24/2026
In December 2025, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) provided a recommendation that Atlantic Salmon on Cape Breton Island and the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence be classified as endangered and added to schedule 1 of the Species At Risk Act (SARA). If the Department of Fisheries (DFO) and the Department of Environment (DOE) agree, recreational salmon angling, including catch and release, could be prohibited on the Margaree, and community based river conservation could become significantly more difficult. DFO and DOE will be presented with this information this fall, at which point they will undertake stakeholder and rightsholder consultation, and from there make a decision on whether to list or not list gulf region Atlantic salmon on the SARA. The Margaree Salmon Association in conjunction with many of our partners will be advocating against the SARA listing. MSA will provide more information on this topic as it comes to us.
Yours in Conservation,
The Margaree Salmon Association
Atlantic Salmon © Photo 555838239 by v_moss
iNaturalist Canada. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
