Pacific Salmon Foundation 2024 Annual Report
2024: All in for salmon
A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
The Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) is all in for salmon.
With new PSF data showing that 70 per cent of salmon in British Columbia and the Yukon are below their historical long-term average abundance, the need for our action and leadership has never been clearer.
Salmon have always given us so much, shaping our environment, cultures, and economies. Indigenous peoples have long led the way in caring for these vital ecosystems. Today, with many salmon populations struggling, it is our shared responsibility to honour that legacy and do our part to take care of salmon for future generations. Inaction is not an option.
PSF’s work is shaped by Salmon Recovery, Salmon Resilience, and System Transformation – the three key pillars outlined in our strategic plan, which took effect in 2024.
Based on these guiding principles, we have been laser-focused on helping declining salmon populations recover, making sure stable populations are protected, and driving systemic change to tackle the pressing challenges salmon face today and in the future.
Through peer-reviewed science, research projects, restoration efforts, recovery planning, and strategic outreach and relationship building, 2024 was a successful year. Among many highlights, we released a first-of-its-kind State of Salmon Report, marked 35 years of community grants supporting local salmon stewards, and celebrated a landmark policy ban on open-net pen Atlantic salmon farms based on risks to wild Pacific salmon, backed by more than a decade of scientific research.
PSF recognizes that these accomplishments were made possible thanks to countless partner- ships, showcasing what we can achieve together for salmon. A prosperous future for Pacific salmon starts with us. Thanks to our dedicated network of partners, supporters, and donors, PSF is uniquely positioned to help create meaningful change to benefit salmon for generations to come.
Together, we’re taking action now for the future of salmon. Every project, study, initiative, and contribution matters, each one bringing us closer to our shared goal of saving and restoring wild Pacific salmon.
— Michael Meneer, CEO and President, Pacific Salmon Foundation
2022 Revenue
Total revenue
Revenues by BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund – BCSRIF
Established in 2018 as a partnership between the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia, the BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF) supports protection and restoration activities for Pacific salmon.
Revenue by donations
2022 Expenses
Total expenses
Program expenses
Community salmon program project awards
Special thanks to our generous supporters for advancing game-changing work to save and restore wild Pacific salmon.
Strategic Pillars
Salmon Recovery
Salmon Resilience
Systems Transformation
Salmon Recovery
Pacific salmon need cool water to regulate their body functions. Thermal refugia, or discrete cold-water patches in rivers and streams, serve as important areas for salmon to avoid thermal stress. With climate change, the identification and protection of thermal refugia is critical to enabling Pacific salmon to adapt to a rapidly warming climate.
The Salmon Watersheds Program, in partnership with the BC Institute of Technology and Simon Fraser University, is using drones to map the North Alouette River watershed and identify cold-water patches. This information is being used in a broader study funded by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, comparing the effectiveness of different techniques for monitoring thermal refugia.
Partners: BCIT
5,700+ colour and thermal images collected | 8 drone flights | 1 Map of North Alouette River thermal refugia created by drone imagery
Salmon Resiliene
In-season management of salmon fisheries and the recovery of at-risk salmon populations is hindered by a lack of timely information on the number of returning adult salmon. Conducting routine monitoring to guide sustainable fisheries and salmon recovery can be costly, particularly in remote salmon watersheds. Machine learning provides a novel and innovative solution.
This pilot project focuses on developing, testing, and applying computer vision models to empower local and Indigenous-led monitoring and management by supporting expedited in-season processing of salmon counting using videos and sonar cameras.
HOW IT WORKS
- Computer-vision models are developed by scientists to enable rapid, automated detection, tracking, and identification of objects.
- Thousands of frames of prelabelled images or videos are used to ‘train’ the model, teaching it what to look for.
- As the amount of training data increases, the model learns and becomes increasingly reliable at performing this identification task.
- Once the model has been trained and tested, and its accuracy is confirmed, the model can be used to automate counting salmon, especially valuable in remote sites.
Partners: Gitanyow Fisheries Authority, Skeena Fisheries Commission, Haida Fisheries Program, North Coast StAD, Wild Salmon Center, Simon Fraser University
“Heiltsuk has always had a vested interest in their territory and sustainably managing the resources within it. Sockeye has always been a targeted species for food, social, and ceremonial purposes, and Koeye has always been a top producer of sockeye for the community.
However, Heiltsuk had no idea what the overall health of the sockeye stocks were in Koeye, and because it has always been such a dependable system for food production, questions were raised. What is the health of the sockeye population in Koeye? And, what is a sustainable harvest number to ensure that the sockeye population stays stable or booming? Answering these questions was beyond our current capacity, so we developed this partnership to start to answer some of these questions and bring more certainty to management of the sockeye population in Koeye over the long term.” — William Housty, conservation manager, Heiltsuk First Nation
Photo by Mark Cleveland/Gitanyow Fisheries Authority
A coho swims through the Kitwanga River weir and is tracked by the computer vision model.
Technician reviews Yakoun River computer vision images.
Photo by Karl Seitz
The Koeye River weir and counting system.
530,000 LABELED IMAGES | 90% ACCURACY FOR COHO | 15+ COLLABORATORS | 1 OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE FOR IDENTIFYING AND COUNTING SALMON
Systems Transformation
The Pacific Salmon Explorer provides a common foundation of information for understanding the state of Pacific salmon and their habitats in B.C. This information is essential for identifying conservation and management actions that can help support salmon recovery and resilience.
In 2022, the Columbia River watershed was added to this data visualization tool, adding to the most comprehensive, publicly available resource.
400+ GENETICALLY AND GEOGRAPHICALLY DISTINCT WILD SALMON POPULATIONS | 92% OF B.C.’S POPULATIONS REPRESENTED
Thank You!
Thank you to our generous supporters for advancing game-changing work to save and restore wild Pacific salmon.
