Natural Resources Minister Wally Stiles announced on Thursday that fishing camps that rest on Crown land will be maintained under a new arrangement with local watershed management groups. (CBC)

New Brunswick salmon groups were pleased to hear the government will continue to run about 40 fishing camps along stretches of Crown reserve waters.

The Department of Natural Resources had planned to stop upgrading the fishing camps and there had been concern from groups who used the spots that the camps would be abandoned or turned over to the private sector.

In last year's budget, the department cut the funding it used to maintain the camps to $30,000 from $130,000.

Natural Resources Minister Wally Stiles announced on Thursday that the provincial government has entered a partnership with the watershed management groups of both the Miramichi and Restigouche rivers to keep up the fishing camps.

Stiles said his department will retain responsibility for the camps and enforcement along the river systems, while the two organizations will do the maintenance work.

'This is a very, very good thing for New Brunswick angling. We're very, very pleased.'— Tom Benjamin, New Brunswick Salmon Council

Stiles said more details of the partnership and its funding will come when he presents his department's budgetary estimates in the legislature.

Debbie Norton, a representative from the Miramichi watershed committee, said the agreement is a benefit to the people working in these areas.

"The people who are conducting this maintenance will actually be being paid, so it's not like it's a volunteer thing," Norton said.

Tom Benjamin, the president of the New Brunswick Salmon Council, said he is relieved to hear an agreement has been achieved to avoid the deterioration of the fishing spots.

"This is a very, very good thing for New Brunswick angling. We're very, very pleased," Benjamin said.

Benjamin said that's important, because it's the anglers of this province who benefit from the camps.

"This whole program is aimed directly, and limited to, residents of New Brunswick," he said.

Benjamin said the partnership is what his group and others were looking for, he still wants to see more details about what work will be done and how it will be paid for.

Roland Michaud, a spokesman with the New Brunswick Wildlife Federation, said he is also curious how much the change will cost.

"Is this costing us a million dollars a year? Is it costing us $200,000 a year? That's one of the things I'm a little cautious about," he said.

Michaud said he hopes increased funding promised for the programs won't be to the detriment of other areas, such as forest ranger enforcement.