MSA Board Chairman Manley Price will be awarded the prestigious Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Atlantic Salmon Conservation for 2014 by the New Brunswick Salmon Council. If you are at all able, please set aside the evening of May 14 and join us at the NBSC Fredericton Dinner to congratulate Manley for this well deserved award.

The Miramichi Watershed Management Committee nominated Manley and you can read excerpts from the the nomination letter below:

In 1994, Manley left his position as Woodland’s Supervisor of the Boiestown operation of Avenor to take the position of Manager at Rocky Brook Camp. When Manley took over this position he convinced the owners (Avenor at the time) to implement a science program to study and manage the stretch of the Southwest Miramichi River, its tributaries and the many lakes lying in their freehold and licensed properties. Manley has had a full time biologist and technicians on staff ever since, convincing new owners of the value of the work carried out there. The Rocky Brook Fisheries Management Program is extensive, studying and implementing lake and stream management practices, enhancing salmon and trout populations, maintaining angling statistics, and monitoring and restoring habitat. Manley has encouraged his staff to work closely with government, industry, universities and the Miramichi Salmon Association (MSA) science staff, carrying out and contributing to studies and management efforts, providing statistics on internal studies, as well as volunteering time on the Miramichi Watershed Management Committee as Directors and members of sub-committees, of which they have been very active. None of this very valuable work would have taken place if not for Manley’s persistence. 

Manley has been a Director of the Miramichi Watershed Management Committee since its inception in 1995. The MWMC is a federation of stakeholder organizations who share a common interest in ensuring the conservation and wise use of the recreational fisheries resources of the Miramichi Recreational Fishery Area (MFRA). The Executive and Directors serve on a volunteer basis, meeting in the evenings as often as once a month; Manley has rarely missed a meeting. Manley held the position of Vice President for a number of years until he took over as President in 2003, holding that position until 2008. As President, Manley was instrumental in the completion of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the MWMC, and is the signatory on the original document. The MoU created an opportunity for the MWMC to work with the federal and provincial governments in monitoring, coordinating and managing the recreational fisheries of the MRFA. Manley is highly respected by everyone; government, industry and those just interested in recreational fisheries; and was instrumental in the many successful fisheries management improvements brought about through the work of the MWMC. Manley still serves as a Director and in 2008 took on the position of Secretary of the Board. In 2014 he will again take on the position of President. 

Manley has also served as a Director of the Miramichi Salmon Association (MSA), another volunteer board, for 18 years and presently serves as Chairman of the Board. His work as Chairman has helped the MSA raise over $2 Million during its Miramichi Forever Fund Campaign in recognition of the MSA’s 60th anniversary. Campaign funds will be accessed in 2014 to carry out cold water habitat restoration and beaver dam removal and to improve the adult salmon and smolt counts on the Miramichi River. For five years Manley headed up the Conservation Planning Committee, a large job within the MSA. Each year Manley is able to convince the owners of Rocky Brook Camp to donate 2 salmon fishing trips, one to the MSA Fredericton Dinner and one to the MSA/NBSC/ASF Dinner in Saint John. The trip for the Saint John Dinner has sold for $37,000 which is a major contribution to salmon efforts in New Brunswick. He is also able to convince the owners to donate trout fishing trips for some of the lakes which are donated to organizations across New Brunswick. 

Manley’s volunteer efforts also extended to provincial matters when he became a founding member of the New Brunswick Wildlife Council. This committed group of volunteers manage the Wildlife Trust Fund, established in 1997 to further wildlife conservation in the province. 

We can think of nobody more deserving of this award. Manley continues to work tirelessly with the MWMC and the MSA, as well as heading the science program at Rocky Brook. Manley is truly a champion of conservation on behalf of not only salmon and other species, but also anglers, outfitters, guides and all others with economic, environmental and recreational interests in the river.