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The Atlantic salmon. Historically, sporadic attempts were made to introduce Atlantic salmon into B.C. waters. They all failed. This does not mean that Atlantic salmon could never establish viable populations in our coastal rivers. Most of the early introductions involved delicate life-history stages (e.g., eyed eggs and alevins) that suffer high mortalities even in their native waters. Moreover, our native stocks of salmon and trout, especially those with stream-rearing phases in their life histories, were strong. Consequently, the early introductions were made into highly competitive environments. This has all changed in recent years. Now, populations of our native stream-rearing salmonines (especially coho, O. kisutch, Chinook, O. tshawytscha, and steelhead, O. mykiss) are depressed, and many stocks are either endangered or extirpated. Also, millions of Atlantic salmon are now reared in sea pens along our coast, and thousands of juveniles and adults inevitably escape into the wild. Furthermore, there is concrete evidence that some of these escaped fish have successfully spawned in B.C. rivers, and there is evidence of more than one age class of young in some rivers (e.g., the Tsitika River). Still, it is not certain that any of these successful reproductive events have produced self-sustaining populations. Nonetheless, the possibility that Atlantic salmoncould become established on the B.C. coast can no longer be dismissed out of hand. Consequently, it behooves government agencies responsible for the management and conservation of indigenous fishes to seriously examine the potential impacts of Atlantic salmon on native species.

Atlantic Ocean: temperate and arctic zones in northern hemisphere (Ref. 51442). In western Atlantic Ocean distributed in coast drainages from northern Quebec in Canada and Connecticut in USA (Ref. 5723) to Argentina (Ref. 9086). In eastern Atlantic Ocean distributed in drainages from the Baltic states to Portugal (Ref. 51442). Landlocked stocks are present in Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway (Ref. 6439) and in North America (Ref. 1998). Appendix III of the Bern Convention (protected fauna; except at sea).