This past summer, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick released a three-point action plan to address the growing ecological problems facing rivers in New Brunswick, and used a tour of pollution sites along the Miramichi to help draw attention to the decline of the province's rivers. Salmon is only one species we have lost or are losing in the Miramichi. Sturgeon is completely gone from the river.
Striped bass is reduced to a handful of individuals.
Trout, eels, smelt, perch, whitefish, blueback herring and shad have dramatically declined. Milewski believes that any approach to solving a river's problem must be aggressive if it is going to be successful. The amount of contaminants in our rivers is enormous, especially the Miramichi. The only thing that will save the salmon and other fish in the river is an outright assault on the problems that are making the river sick. If we take care of the rivers, the fish will take care of themselves and that is why we are proposing this three-point action plan for restoring the ecological health of the rivers.