Pacific Salmon Foundation 2025 Impact Report

2025: Meeting the moment for salmon

A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

Today, Pacific salmon face widespread declines and complex challenges. Still, they keep coming back.

2025 gave us reasons to be hopeful. Nearly 10 million sockeye returned to the Fraser River — three times the forecast. Yet our second State of Salmon report found that two-thirds of Pacific salmon in B.C. and the Yukon are in long-term decline, signalling that we’ve reached a tipping point.

Through science, action, and influence, PSF is meeting the moment for salmon — helping struggling populations recover while ensuring stable populations remain resilient. In 2025, more than 1,000 new donors joined our community, a milestone that reflects the growing momentum behind our shared mission.

Together, we will continue advancing salmon recovery through the collective action that has defined PSF for decades.

— Michael Meneer, CEO and President, Pacific Salmon Foundation

Read the full CEO message and download the 2025 Impact Report here.

PSF Board of Directors PSF Emeritus Directors

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18 MB | 20 Pages | Published: June 2026

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Pacific Salmon Foundation Financials

2025 Revenue and Expenses

Special thanks to our generous supporters for advancing game-changing work to save and restore wild Pacific salmon.

2025 Highlights

Sampling wild juvenile salmon in the Discovery Islands, a key migratory corridor for Fraser River salmon. Photo: Chelsea Pope
Researching salmon to better understand the factors affecting their survival. Photo: Brandon Deepwell
Sampling a young Chinook during its first winter at sea — the hardest time to study salmon. Photo: Brandon Deepwell
With First Nations partners, PSF is monitoring pinniped activity in B.C. salmon rivers. Photo: Kotawân Media
PSF added the Yukon to its Pacific Salmon Explorer, revealing 80 per cent of populations are struggling. Photo: Peter Mather
Creating 200 metres of high-quality spawning habitat for threatened Chinook in Nootka Sound. Photo: Brandon Deepwell
Collaborative restoration work in the Nootka Sound region saw immediate results.
Sq’éwqel (Seabird Island Band) was one of 160 grant recipients of PSF's Community Salmon Program in 2025.
Monitoring conditions in the Cowichan River to inform real-time drought response. Photo: B. Hetschko
PSF's 2025 State of Salmon Report revealed that two-thirds of populations are in long-term decline.
Wild Salmon Day crossed international borders for the first time in 2025. Photo: Tavish Campbell
Hon. Randene Neill visited PSF and grantee Sargeant Bay Society on the Sunshine Coast. Photo: PSF

Science. Action. Influence.

PSF is at the forefront of the research that informs the actions required to help salmon survive and thrive, and a voice for salmon in the decisions that shape their future. Our work focuses on three key areas: science, action, and influence.

Salmon Recovery

Science

MONITORING JUVENILE SALMON BEFORE AND AFTER FISH FARMS 

In 2025, PSF launched a multi-year monitoring program for wild juvenile salmon in the Discovery Islands, a key migratory corridor east of Campbell River where open-net-pen Atlantic salmon farms were phased out between 2020 and 2021.

Continuing work previously led by the Hakai Institute, researchers are tracking how wild salmon respond now that the farms are gone.

Between May and July, the team sampled 2,995 fish across 32 locations, testing for pathogens, counting sea lice, and assessing environmental conditions as salmon migrated past the now-inactive sites.

Learn more about PSF’s monitoring in the Discovery Islands.

This work is co-led by PSF and the University of Toronto, with critical support from Raincoast Research Society and funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Special thanks to the North Family Foundation.

Sampling wild juvenile salmon in the Discovery Islands, a key migratory corridor for Fraser River salmon.

Photo: Chelsea Pope

IMPACT

Open-net pens are set to be banned in B.C. by 2029, following more than a decade of PSF-led research and dozens of peer-reviewed studies linking Atlantic salmon farms to risks for wild Pacific salmon.

NEXT STEPS

The fieldwork will continue annually, building a robust before-and-after dataset on the impacts of fish farms on wild Pacific salmon.

2,995 fish sampled across 32 locations · 2029 target year for the open-net pen ban

Salmon Resilience
Improving habitat and restoring flows in the Lower Fraser River watershed.

Photo: Chloë Fraser

Action

COMMUNITY-LED CONSERVATION ELEVATED THROUGH 160+ PROJECTS

At Maria Slough near Agassiz, Sq’éwqel (Seabird Island Band) was unable to harvest Chinook for years. In 2025, a $112,384 Community Salmon Program grant helped the community restore flows disrupted by drought and aging infrastructure: installing seven rock weirs and 12 large woody debris structures, clearing invasive reed canary grass across 845 square metres, and planting 680 native plants.

More than 500 salmon were sighted using the new habitat during the following spawning season. This is where PSF wades in, by accelerating community-led work with the highest impact on salmon recovery.

Learn more about PSF’s community salmon program.

Special thanks to AltaGas, Enbridge, Mosaic Forest Management, Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc., Trans Mountain, The Wolrige Foundation, and Yun Wright in memory of Bob Wright. The Province of B.C. also supports the Community Salmon Program.

IMPACT

$7.39 from every Salmon Conservation Stamp is invested directly in community stewardship, supporting locally led recovery across B.C. and the Yukon.

NEXT STEPS

PSF continues to evolve the Community Salmon Program toward strategic, innovative projects that deliver lasting results for salmon and the communities that depend on them.

161 community projects funded in 2025 · $2M in funding distributed

Explore Grant-Funded Projects

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Systems Transformation

Influence

STATE OF SALMON

Building off the inaugural State of Salmon report in 2024, PSF released its second version in 2025, finding that two-thirds of Pacific salmon populations in British Columbia and the Yukon are below their long-term average abundances.

The State of Salmon report is the go-to source for high-level information on how all species of Pacific salmon and steelhead are doing in B.C. and the Yukon. The data-driven overview guides PSF’s work, both on the ground and behind the scenes, to strengthen resilience and advance recovery of salmon populations for generations to come.

Learn more: stateofsalmon.ca

Special thanks to the Province of B.C. and Sitka Foundation for supporting the State of Salmon 2025 Report.

State of Salmon

Photo: Eiko Jones

IMPACT

More than 200 salmon leaders attended PSF’s State of Salmon webinar. Presentations were delivered to key stakeholders, including decision-makers and the recreational fishing sector. The report is considered the go-to source for news outlets — ranging from CBC to the Times Colonist— helping the general public understand the urgent state of Pacific salmon.

NEXT STEPS

PSF will update the State of Salmon annually with the best available data. Future editions will report on the factors impacting salmon abundance and the path forward to support salmon recovery.

2/3 of populations in long-term decline · 200+ salmon leaders convened

With gratitude

PSF’s progress in science, action, and influence is only possible thanks to you — our partners, donors, and supporters who have championed our mission for decades.

Special thanks to:

Each individual who donated in support of PSF’s work

1,063 new donors, including individuals, companies, and foundations

Hundreds of sponsors and supporters who raised funds at PSF events

Hundreds of individuals who celebrated Wild Salmon Day

Province of British Columbia

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Pacific Salmon Endowment Fund Society

Learn more about ways to support PSF’s work to drive salmon recovery.

Donor Spotlights

Duncan Kirkpatrick

Based in Victoria, Duncan Kirkpatrick has donated monthly to PSF since 2015. Originally from the Prairies, he has been salmon fishing for more than four decades and has shared his passion for fishing with his family and peers.

“In my view, the Pacific Salmon Foundation is the lead agency when it comes to salmon sustainability.”

“My four- and six-year-old grandsons have had the chance to experience salmon fishing over the past two years. When they ask, ‘Papa, can we go fishing again this summer?’ I hope I can keep saying yes for years to come.”

Geoff and Susan Burns

Geoff and Susan Burns first connected with PSF at the 2014 Vancouver Gala. Nearly a decade later, they deepened their commitment through a multi-year pledge. Geoff, who spent his career in the Canadian mining industry, went on an annual salmon fishing trip to Haida Gwaii with friends for 15 years. Over time, he witnessed declining salmon populations firsthand and the related impacts on the ecosystems that depend on them.

“The state of salmon is an incredibly important issue for our province.”

“Susan and I are fortunate to have the opportunity to give back to organizations like PSF that are dedicated to protecting a cornerstone species of British Columbia. PSF’s targeted programs and research advance conservation efforts in ways that go far beyond what government can do alone.”

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