Atlantic Salmon in Quebec: The Paradox of a System That Funds Its Protection Through Its Exploitation

The collapse of Atlantic salmon runs in Quebec — which reached a historic and alarming low in 2024 and 2025 — highlights a deep systemic flaw: the paradox of funding its own protection.

The dilemma: financing monitoring through exploitation

Quebec’s salmon management model falls under the authority of the Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs and relies on a structure in which the Fédération québécoise pour le saumon atlantique (FQSA), ZECs, and river associations depend heavily on revenue generated by fishing activity. This model creates a troubling paradox: the protection of a declining species depends, in part, on the exploitation of that same resource. In the context of a historic collapse in salmon runs, this dependence weakens managers’ ability to make decisions based strictly on conservation, without economic pressure tied to maintaining fishing activity.

This mechanism creates a fundamental paradox:

• The more fishing days are sold, the more revenue increases.

• But the more pressure placed on salmon, the more fragile the resource becomes.

In other words, protecting salmon often means reducing the very revenues used to fund its monitoring.

This dependence places conservation stakeholders in a difficult position:

• Restricting fishing to protect the resource leads directly to lower revenue.

• Maintaining fishing activity to finance protection increases pressure on an already vulnerable species.

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This structural conflict of interest weakens the system’s ability to make swift, strict decisions when conditions demand it.

Financial dependence that delays necessary closures

The operating budgets of these organizations — including river wardens’ salaries, fish counting operations, pool monitoring, and biological assessments — come largely from the sale of:

• daily fishing packages,

• pre-season draws, 24-hour, 48-hour, and 72-hour access lotteries,

• pre-season access permits.

During heat waves, low water flows, or severe drought conditions, closing a river to protect heat-stressed salmon means immediately cutting off the system’s main source of funding. This reality creates a natural reluctance to impose rapid, full, and uniform closures, even when biological conditions clearly require them.

The absence of a rigorous province-wide thermal protocol

While other jurisdictions — such as Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia — apply automatic closures once water temperatures exceed critical thresholds, Quebec has still been slow to adopt a uniform and mandatory thermal protocol.

At present, management relies mainly on:

• recommendations,

• voluntary closures,

• partial closures of certain pools or thermal refuges,

• local pilot projects.

This “case-by-case” approach is widely criticized because it leaves room for:

• local economic pressure,

• inconsistent decisions between rivers,

• delays incompatible with biological urgency.

The system remains too reactive, even though the situation now demands preventive management based on clear scientific thresholds.

The illusion of catch-and-release during extreme heat

Even though catch-and-release became mandatory in most rivers in 2025, this measure remains insufficient when rivers reach critical temperatures.

Simple disturbance can become deadly

During hot periods, salmon seek refuge in cold-water pools to reduce physiological stress.

Simply:

• casting a fly over a holding pool,

• walking near thermal refuges,

• repeatedly passing fly lines and leaders,

can be enough to:

• force fish out of their refuges,

• increase their energy expenditure,

• expose them to warmer, less oxygenated water.

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Thermal stress that compromises survival and reproduction

When a salmon is hooked, fought, or disturbed in water above 20°C:

• its metabolism accelerates,

• recovery becomes much slower,

• post-release survival drops sharply.

Even when the fish survives, the impacts can be significant:

• overall weakening,

• reduced spawning success,

• lower egg viability,

• increased risk of delayed mortality.

As a result, during heat waves, catch-and-release does not guarantee meaningful protection for the fish.

Reform is now urgent

In light of the collapse observed over recent years, more and more stakeholders are calling for structural reform of Quebec’s salmon management model.

Most frequently proposed solutions

1. Decouple conservation funding from fishing revenue

Conservation funding should come from stable, independent public sources:

• recurring government funding,

• climate monitoring funds,

• support for river wardens.

  
  

This would allow closure decisions to be made without immediate economic pressure.

2. Adopt a mandatory thermal protocol

Implement:

• uniform temperature thresholds,

• automatic closures,

• real-time monitoring accessible to the public.

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3. Strengthen transparency and governance

Establish:

• public accountability,

• better dissemination of biological data,

• decision-making mechanisms less influenced by local revenue.

  
  

Atlantic salmon is not just a fishing resource: it is an indicator of the health of our rivers and a symbol of Quebec’s natural heritage.

As long as its protection remains financially dependent on its exploitation, Quebec will remain trapped in a contradictory system where ecological urgency collides with the economic survival of the model.

Today, the question is no longer whether this system must be reformed, but how much time is left before it is too late.