Salmon Return to Seine, Disappear from Major Canadian River

For the first time in nearly a century, Atlantic salmon are returning to France’s Seine River to spawn, drawn back because the river has become appreciably cleaner in recent years, officials say. “There has been a turning point,” said Charles Perrier of the National Institute for Agronomic Research. “The improvement in water quality means that salmon have returned to the Seine.” The National Federation for French Fishing estimates that roughly 1,000 Atlantic salmon may be in the river this year. Salmon populations effectively disappeared from the Seine in the early 20th century because of high levels of industrial pollution, as well as the discharge of human sewage into the river. The salmon are returning to the river without the restoration programs used in recent years to reintroduce Atlantic salmon to the Thames and the Rhine. Meanwhile, millions of sockeye salmon — a Pacific species — have failed to return to Canada’s Fraser River, which empties into the Pacific Ocean in British Columbia. As many as 10.6 million sockeye were expected to return, but fewer than 1 million have, forcing the closure of the fishery. Scientists say that changing ocean conditions and fish farms at the mouth of the river — which spread sea lice to the wild salmon — could be responsible for the decline.