Did you know nearshore habitats are vital for Pacific salmon? Unfortunately, many important nearshore habitats are degraded due to human activities, climate change, and invasive species, and restoration can be a real challenge of trial and error.
With funding from DFO’s Aquatic Ecosystem Research Fund (AERF), PSF’s Marine Science Program is leading a new project that will result in the creation of a Restoration Resource Hub of open-access informative resources and decision-support tools to guide and help coordinate adaptive nearshore habitat restoration approaches and strategies.
Learn about the project:
Greening the Salish Sea: Decision Support Tools for Successful Pacific Salmon Habitat Recovery
Pacific salmon are famous for incredible migrations back to their home rivers, but they spend most of their adult lives in the ocean.
Beginning in the 1970s, Pacific salmon’s marine survival rates — the number of fish that survive the migration from river to ocean and return as adults – mysteriously and sharply declined. Efforts to reduce harvest, restore habitat, and improve hatchery practices in the decades since have not led to recovery.
Tasked with explaining this catastrophic drop-off in abundance, PSF completed a five-year transboundary project called the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project in 2020, which identified several urgent areas of research and action to advance Pacific salmon recovery. This led to PSF launching the Marine Science Program, which continues to advance knowledge of Pacific salmon by addressing the findings from the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project.
With climate change and human-made issues putting even more pressure on Pacific salmon, PSF’s Marine Science Program is uniquely positioned to carry out independent and science-based oceanic research to inform experts, government, and the public.
Together, we can all work towards creating a prosperous future for Pacific salmon.