News release

Fishers Released as Part of Relocation Project

Natural Resources (to July 2018)

Two fishers from northern Nova Scotia have been relocated to Hants County to strengthen the mammal's presence in the province. Department of Natural Resources staff released the fishers, a member of the weasel family, on Wednesday, March 27, as part of an ongoing relocation project.

"This project is an opportunity for us to help these animals re- establish themselves across the province," said Natural Resources Minister Ernest Fage. "It's a co-operative effort by several organizations to increase the population and to improve our knowledge of fisher habitat."

Fishers are live-trapped in Colchester, Cumberland and Pictou counties and relocated to different areas of Halifax Regional Municipality and Hants and Kings counties. Since 1994, when the relocation project began, 55 fishers have been trapped and released.

Unregulated trapping and habitat changes caused the fishers to disappear from Nova Scotia by the mid-1930s. They were first introduced in 1947-48, when 12 ranch-raised animals were released in the Tobeatic Wildlife Management Area. In the 1960s, 92 wild fishers from Maine were released in the northeastern part of the province. As a result, two separate populations exist in Nova Scotia.

In 1999, trappers captured 12 fishers and department staff attached radio collars to track their movements. They were then released back into their environments. This allowed the department to monitor their travels and activities and to use the data to create a fisher habitat model. This model can now be used to predict suitable habitat for fishers when they are relocated.

The project is a partnership of the Department of Natural Resources, the Trappers Association of Nova Scotia and Acadia University.