Your monthly resource for MSA conservation updates, Miramichi Watershed Information, upcoming MSA Events and much more.

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Vol. 54 January 2023

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year! I am excited to see what 2023 holds for Atlantic Salmon conservation in the Miramichi River.

In December we had several initiatives wrap up, including our Carleton County Auction (full of handy fishing items!), our Hooked for the Holidays Raffle for a trip to Ledges, and our End of Season Campaign. I want to thank everyone for supporting these initiatives and the Miramichi Salmon Association. Because of your generosity, we were able to raise funds to support our conservation programs. I’m also hoping you’re hanging your 2023 MSA calendar with pride- a huge thank you to the sponsors who made the calendar possible.

One of our next events will be the MSA US Dinner on February 4^th at the Portland Country Club near Freeport, Maine. I encourage you to read through this newsletter to find out more details on how to register and support this event. Thank you to the MSA US event committee for all the work they put into this initiative.

We received several applications in December for the Jack Fenety Conservation Scholarship. Our Education Committee team is currently reviewing applications and will inform the board shortly about the 2023 recipient. For more details on this award and previous recipients, please visit our website at https://miramichisalmon.ca/scholarship/

I was able to spend a bit of time with the eggs in our hatchery this past week, and I want to share how healthy they look, and what an incredible job the hatchery team does. Thanks to your support, we have excellent people on-site to support the hatchery and the conservation work it allows us to do- including incubating eggs for release as fry each spring.

Stay tuned for special 70th anniversary events for the MSA and 150^th anniversary events for the hatchery- 2023 promises to be a great year for our organization as we protect and sustain Atlantic Salmon on the Miramichi.

Robyn

Feb 4, 2023, Portland Club, Falmouth Maine

At 5:30 PM EST guests, both virtual and in person will gather as did Ted Williams, Charlie Wade, Seabury Stanton, Kingsbury Browne, and many other noted fishers and conservationists from the Miramichi’ s past to celebrate the MSA’s mission to support the river’s Atlantic salmon.

The event includes a cocktail hour with hearty hors d’oeuvres, silent auction, buffet dinner, wine with dinner, and the great company of passionate Atlantic salmon enthusiasts. The virtual attendees will be live on zoom to interact and share stories with the live participants, and each will receive a limited-edition, engraved, MSA 70^th Anniversary Richard Wheatley Fly Box and an REC Recoiler .  

Our guest speakers will be Andrew Willett, Director Sustainability, and Indigenous Relations for JD Irving, as well as MSA president Robyn McCallum.

All live attendees can bid on a diverse collection of silent auction items including fly collections by well-known tiers, gift certificates, fishing equipment, salmon angling books, artwork, and apparel. There will also be a paddle raise led by Colin “Rip” Cunningham, to encourage conservation donations of all amounts. Virtual attendees will feel like they are in the middle of the bidding action by texting their bids and donations for the live auction and paddle raise to our virtual hostess Caroline Marin who will place online bids live with auctioneer Gary Tanner. 

Ticket prices as follows and in US dollars:

• Individual tickets - live or virtual attendance - $300 USD per person.
• Table of eight (8) - live and virtual attendance can be mixed $2,400 USD
• MSA 70^th Anniversary Patron table (8) - $5,000 USD - includes: Premium Table Seating for 8, Recognition in all MSA event publications, unlimited wine, special reception with Robyn McCallum and Andrew Willett. 

Tickets can be purchased by clicking the link below.

Funds will be deposited directly in the MSA US bank account. A tax receipt will be issued for donation amounts above the cost of food and service. 

We hope for people all over the world who love the Miramichi and its salmon fishing, but who can’t attend in person, to participate virtually. The MSA dinner committee has put a lot of planning into the virtual program to make it an involved and enjoyable experience. In person attendance will be limited to 120, so please order your tickets early.  

A block of hotel rooms has been reserved for $129.00/night at the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport. Call the hotel at 207 869 3017 and mention the Miramichi Salmon Block to get this discount.

The MSA is pleased to report that this year's Carleton County Christmas Auction and Raffle was a huge success thanks to our dedicated volunteers, generous sponsors and enthusiastic participants. It's always great to close out the year with a successful fundraiser, and the Christmas auction did not disappoint having raised almost $25k in support of Atlantic salmon conservation efforts in the Miramichi watershed A special thank you to McCain Fertilizer, Day and Ross, McConnell Transport and Mountain View Packers for their generous sponsorship in support of our online auction. We look forward to hosting this fun online auction again next year. Again, thank you to all who participated. We hope we made your Christmas shopping a little easier!

The Miramichi Salmon Association will be celebrating 70 years in salmon conservation in 2023. Since 1953, our organization has focused on protecting and sustaining Atlantic Salmon on the Miramichi, and while staying true to our goals, has adapted as threats and opportunities changed for Atlantic Salmon.

The MSA will be hosting milestone events throughout 2023 to celebrate these anniversaries! Follow our website and social media channels to learn more about upcoming events. 

The Miramichi Salmon Association is seeking a full time finance coordinator. This position will be based at our South Esk office, and is for 40 hours per week, full time, and permanent. Click the link below to see the job posting and for more details.

In Early December, Mike Holland, New Brunswick Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Development, announced the establishment of 435 new Nature Legacy protected areas totaling 274,560ha. This brings the total number of Nature Legacy protected areas to 552 (384,789ha) and 10% of the province, meeting the goal that was set in 2019.

To gather input into specific areas for protection, the Provincial Government created the New Brunswick Nature Legacy Information Hub. The site allowed scientists, conservation stakeholders, First Nations, land managers, local community groups, and members of the public input in to areas that might be considered for protection. Feedback was reviewed and fully considered in the decision-making process - 76% of the area that has received protection can be linked to a nomination originating from feedback through the Information Hub. To read the press release and learn more about the NB Nature Legacy Initiative, please click the link below.

Fishing Friends:



I really love Atlantic salmon fishing, and I especially love to do it in the Miramichi. In the Miramichi you can normally fish in a relatively wild setting, on wade-friendly gravel, and both see and sometimes catch beautiful salmon that go from 5-pound grilse to 30-pound repeat spawners. It isn’t all that far from the northeastern United States, the Canadians are a friendly lot, and we have similar laws and speak the same language. You don’t have to be Bill Gates to own a camp on the river or belong to who’s who on Wall Street to get invited to join a club with decent water. There’s a lot to like. I try in my blog to write about it in a similarly positive tone, because that’s how I feel, and I know that people don’t like to hear whiners anyway.

I’m going to whine a bit now though. I’m going to direct most of that towards Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans. I should say to their Gulf office as opposed to the Maritime office. The Maritime office is located in Halifax and has the Bay of Fundy coast up into Central New Brunswick, stopping just short of the Miramichi, then over most of Nova Scotia including the Atlantic on its south shore. The Gulf office stands for the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It is located in Moncton, and it handles almost all of New Brunswick’s active salmon rivers. You can google around on the DFO website and find a map with all this info.

The MSA is proud to be featured as part of Blackville's new Miramichi River Interpretive Walk! This self-guided trail allows community members and tourists to connect with nature and learn about our great river and Atlantic salmon. The trail can be accessed from the Village of Blackville Municipal Park.

If you treasure Atlantic salmon as we do, then there are two very important things that should be on your must do list for 2023. The first is to become a member of the Miramichi Salmon Association. This is the organization that is really doing helpful things to stop the decline in Miramichi salmon.

The second thing is to support the MSA US fundraising activities so that we can continue our conservation mission. Right now we’re asking you to purchase tickets to the 70^th Anniversary MSA US Winter Event. It is scheduled for Feb. 4^th 2023 at the Portland Country Club in Falmouth, Maine

• MSA US 70th Anniversary Winter Event

February 4th - Portland Country Club - Portland, Maine.

• MSA Board of Directors Meeting

February 17th - Fredericton Inn - Bi-Centennial Ballroom

Miramichi Salmon Association

506-622-4000| www.miramichisalmon.ca