The Misunderstood Striped Bass of the Saint John River, New Brunswick: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

AbstractThe Striped Bass Morone saxatilis of the Saint John River, New Brunswick, is an enigma, having now existed in a state of uncertain species status for more than four decades. Despite a well‐established historical record of adult occurrence in large numbers, the available literature, historical accounts, and status reports contain no evidence for the persistence of a native, reproducing Striped Bass population. In 2012, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada listed the Saint John River Striped Bass as endangered as part of the Bay of Fundy designatable unit. This listing lacked current peer‐reviewed literature and based its conclusions predominately on restatements of findings and opinions from the 1970s and 1980s. After the apparent failure of Striped Bass spawning in the 1975, the decline of native Saint John River Striped Bass was accredited to many factors ranging from chemical pollutants to overfishing to the installation of a sizeable hydropower facility. Modest attempts to locate eggs and juveniles of the native species have been taken; however, the results have been inconclusive due to ineffective, infrequent, and poorly timed sampling. Here we reviewed all available information, literature, reports, and data to effectively describe the Saint John River Striped Bass population in an effort to help manage and recover (if required) this apparently missing population.Received March 8, 2016; accepted September 14, 2016Published online January 24, 2017