The “King of Fish” has virtually disappeared from a river where it once flourished. The number of Wild Atlantic Salmon could be counted on one hand this year with just one finger.

Jonathan Carr visits the St. George Fish Ladder every day. The ladder provides an accurate count of Wild Salmon swimming up the Magadavic River. He says this year the pen where salmon are temporarily held has been empty every day but one.

"One fish.  It can't get much worse than that," says Carr.

It is the lowest return ever seen on this river. Generations ago, thousands of wild salmon would return  annually. Even more recently salmon flourished here.

"This is the sixth largest river in New Brunswick and historically back in the 1980's, it wouldn't be uncommon to see a thousand fish returning to the river, one thousand wild atlantic salmon," reports Carr.

The Atlantic Salmon Federation believes the disappearance is linked to factors including aquaculture, global warming, pesticide run off, and predators like seals.

"The decline of the Wild Atlantic Salmon has been well documented, especially in rivers that flow into the Bay of Fundy, but this year, there are also signs of decline in normally strong rivers," says Federation President Bill Taylor.

Salmon returns on the St. John and Nashwaak rivers also fell to historic lows and a reduced return was experienced on the Miramichi. The health of salmon stocks varies from region to region, even river to river.

“The Bay of Fundy rivers in Nova Scotia are suffering the same declines as the Bay of Fundy rivers in New Brunswick. Generally speaking, rivers in Cape Breton like the Margaree, Cheticamp, Middle River, the Northumberland Strait rivers around Antigonish and New Glasgow are pretty healthy," states Taylor.   

In some rivers, the species is barely hanging on. In the meantime, many hope re-stocking the Magadavic will prevent the “King of Fish” from disappearing for good.

With files from CTV’s Mike Cameron