Wild Atlantic salmon stocks on North America's east coast are at a historic low, a report from the Atlantic Salmon Federation said on Thursday.

Without strong domestic and international action, wild salmon could eventually disappear from its North American habitats altogether, according to the New Brunswick-based federation.

"Since 1974, we have gone from more than 1.5 million salmon to fewer than 500,000 today," Bill Taylor, president of the federation, said in Fredericton.




Taylor said scientists expected a particularly large decline in returns of large salmon to their native spawning rivers.

That's bad news for New Brunswick, which has built a thriving tourism industry based on river salmon fishing.

Rates of return are used to gauge the health of a salmon population.

The scientists are projecting a return of fewer than 100,000 of the larger, egg-bearing females to North American rivers this year.

"This number isn't even half the total number needed to meet minimum conservation targets," Taylor said.

Suggested causes of the salmon decline include changing ocean conditions, acid rain, industrial pollutants, poaching, habitat degradation and poorly regulated salmon aquaculture practices.

Stocks in many waters are in poor shape, but the worst situation is in the Bay of Fundy.

"The inner Bay of Fundy's wild Atlantic salmon population is severely endangered," said Taylor. "Incredible as it may seem, there are now fewer than 200 fish in the inner Bay's 32 rivers, down from 40,000 just 20 years ago."