FREDERICTON, New Brunswick – Two international conservation groups have given Canada a failing grade when it comes to protecting wild Atlantic salmon from the environmental hazards of fish farms.

The Atlantic Salmon Federation, based in New Brunswick, and the Washington-based World Wildlife Fund gave Canada the lowest ranking in their 2005 report, released Tuesday.

Bill Taylor, spokesman for the salmon federation, said Canada is failing to meet its obligations under international treaties aimed at protecting the vanishing wild salmon from the impact of aquaculture.

The biggest problems, he said, are in Atlantic Canada, especially in the Bay of Fundy, which borders far eastern Maine. The sprawling bay has the highest concentration of fish farms in the world.

“It’s a recipe for disaster,” Taylor said.

Canada scored 2.1 out of a possible 10 in terms of national performance on eight criteria, including proximity of aquaculture pens to wild Atlantic salmon rivers and monitoring and inspection routines.

The five other countries monitored by the conservation groups were Iceland, the United States, Norway, Scotland and Ireland. All had higher scores than Canada and all, except Canada, had significantly improved when compared with the most recent progress report in 2003.

“Canada is the only country to slip in its score, which was a poor score to start with in 2003,” Taylor said.

Wild Atlantic salmon populations have declined drastically over the past 30 years in North America. While there are many factors involved, scientists and conservation groups believe some aspects of aquaculture have contributed to the decline.

Taylor said salmon farms can generate and transmit diseases and parasites that infect wild salmon. Farmed salmon also regularly escape their pens and can weaken wild populations through inbreeding and competition for food and habitat.

While the United States got an improved score, an official from the salmon federation took Maine officials to task.

The fact that there were 13 outbreaks of infectious salmon anemia over the past year demonstrates that Maine officials have not done enough to protect against the disease that’s harmless to humans but can kill fish, said Andrew Goode, who is based in Brunswick, Maine.

Maine’s overall score was hurt by the absence of stricter regulations such as limits on stocking density of fish within ocean pens and the requirement that aquaculture sites lie fallow after fish harvesting to eliminate diseases, Goode said.

The conservation groups noted that the number of wild salmon returning to rivers off the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Maine is significantly down.

Fewer than 1,500 wild salmon returned to the Penobscot River in Maine last year and the dwindling populations of eight smaller Maritime rivers are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Ninety percent of the East Coast aquaculture industry is concentrated in the Bay of Fundy, where the clear, cold water and high tides create the perfect environment for fish farms.

“There’s a general decline in wild salmon populations but that decline is much more steep and severe in rivers in close proximity to aquaculture operations,” Taylor said.