Michael Meneer, Hon. Diane Lebouthillier, and Jason Hwang meet in Ottawa.
Salmon Steward: Winter 2023
CEO’s Message
Salmon face many intense challenges — climate change being the greatest.
Many factors are out of our control, such as ocean acidification and warming waters, but the Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) is intervening in the areas where we can have a positive influence on salmon.
Thanks to our supporters, PSF is bringing on new staff and launching new partnerships to pull levers for change that make a difference for salmon and their habitats.
Climate adaptation is a high-impact lever of change for PSF.
Extreme climate events are not anomalies. They are increasing in intensity and frequency, and we need to anticipate climate impacts on salmon and take action to help them adapt.
This year, PSF has been a leader in mobilizing funding and partners to coordinate rapid drought response projects (see more on page four). These projects have helped salmon across B.C. reach
their spawning grounds and bolster future generations of salmon.
We thank our many partners – notably the Province of British Columbia, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), streamkeepers, and First Nations partners – for making rapid response drought efforts possible.
Another lever is PSF’s position on the transition from open-net pen aquaculture in British Columbia. Based on independent science on the impacts of open-net pens on wild salmon, it is clear that these farms present undue risks to wild salmon. Therefore, PSF supports the decision to phase out open-net pens from B.C. waters by 2025, which the federal government has committed to previously.
Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Hon. Diane Lebouthillier, the new Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard. Our conversation focused on what we can do to help salmon, re-iterating that open-net pens need to be removed, and recognizing the need for a fair and equitable economic transition plan for coastal and Indigenous communities.
This transition should include the economic and ecological benefits of investing in a wild salmon recovery economy. Washington State has operated under a dedicated salmon recovery strategy for the last two decades.
There, a $1 million investment in watershed restoration has been shown to create more than 30 new jobs and up to $2.5 million in total economic activity.
Drawing inspiration from Washington, PSF is scoping what a new British Columbia salmon recovery strategy would look like in partnership with the First Nations Fisheries Council of B.C. and other experts (see more on page seven).
Sincerely,
Michael Meneer
President & CEO, Pacific Salmon Foundation
Salmon Steward Magazine
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