Wild Atlantic salmon is on the brink of extinction, according to conservationists, who say only effective federal policy backed by big bucks can save a species that was once plentiful in many Atlantic rivers.

The latest numbers made available at the annual meeting of Atlantic salmon conservationists in Halifax on Friday show 14 Nova Scotia rivers that flow into the Bay of Fundy have lost almost all of their salmon.

'If we don't do something very soon, there won't be anything left.'—Carl Purcell of the N.S. Salmon Federation

Experts have counted only 200 wild breeding adults that return from the ocean to all of these rivers.

Carl Purcell, president of the Nova Scotia Salmon Federation, said his organization and other salmon lobby groups want Ottawa to put up cash to pay for research into what happens to the salmon at sea.

"When you pick up any of the literature, it will tell you the rivers are healthy, the rivers will support fish," he said. "The problem is in the ocean, and what is that problem? Nobody knows. It's the $64,000 question."

Despite efforts to restock, fish numbers have been declining for 25 years, and the trend continues.

"If we don't do something very soon, there won't be anything left," Purcell said. "How long do you spend money on a live gene bank if you don't know what's wrong out there?"