Welcome to the State of the Salmon Program!

Fisheries & Oceans Canada

Background on the Wild Salmon Policy Strategy 1
WSP Status Assessment Approach
Toolkit for assessing Wild Salmon Policy statuses
WSP Integrated Status Assessments
WSP Rapid Status Assessments
The Pacific Salmon Status Scanner
The Scanner Video Series

In Development: Best Practices for WSP Status Assessments & WSP Status Data

Acknowledgements

DFO’s state of the salmon program humbly and respectfully acknowledge that we live and conduct our work on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. We acknowledge that Indigenous Peoples have been stewards of the land and water since time immemorial, and we honour their deep understanding of the interconnectedness between people and natural systems.

The foundation of DFO’s State of the Salmon work is collaboration. We rely on the data, knowledge and wisdom of DFO staff, Indigenous groups, scientists, consultants and NGO’s on Pacific Salmon and their ecosystems. We recognize the data we apply comes from the knowledge, dedication, and extremely hard work of these individuals as they conduct challenging field work in all environmental conditions, and meticulous data entry and analyses. The foundation of Western Science stock assessment projects comes from Indigenous Knowledge of salmon, and their distributions over time and space. The extent of the data available and the richness of the associated salmon knowledge comes from the vital importance of salmon to Indigenous Peoples, and to the economic and ecological values of people in British Columbia and the Yukon. The state of the salmon work could not occur without the input, guidance, and support of many individuals and groups.

Implementation of Wild Salmon Policy (WSP) Strategy 1: Standardized Monitoring of Wild Salmon status has developed through the generous contributions of many experts with conservation biology, stock assessment, and local salmon knowledge. This included the support of many individuals from DFO, First Nations, academics, and NGO’s in workshop settings, as we learned together how to implement WSP status assessments. Once methods and results were produced for these assessments, many experts again committed their time and expertise to reviewing these methods and results within multi-day Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) processes.

We also acknowledge that the Salmon Scanner that presents WSP rapid statuses and other information within a data visualization tool, was designed with the generous input and testing provided by many individuals: including Science-Area stock assessment, Science-research, Salmonid Enhancement Program (SEP), Fisheries Management, Species at Risk Act, and those involved in the Pacific Salmon Commission(PSC), including PSC staff and technical committees. Before we began designing the Scanner, we conducted standardized interviews with questionnaires, on what these individuals needed to do their work most effectively, but currently don’t have the tools or information to do this. Then through these interviews we identified key priorities to include in the Scanner, and began design work. We developed wire-frame versions, and then moved to Shiny R after basic testing proved successful with users across DFO Sectors. Many individuals provided their time in targeted workshops and sessions within DFO and the PSC to test and help us refine the Scanner. As internal and external experts gain access we will continue to expand and refine the functionality, similar to any software or app we use on our computers and phones. A gap on Scanner design is broad engagement among First Nations, which we hope to work with groups as we move into the release phase of the Scanner that includes external groups.

What do we do?

DFO’s State of the Salmon Program was created to track and understand trends in Canadian Pacific salmon populations through collaborative processes, improved reporting and the development of analytical tools.

Broad declines in Canadian Pacific salmon abundances have been linked to global climate change and other factors, such as deteriorating habitats, increased fish disease, and invasive species (Grant et al. 2019). Given these trends, regular tracking of the state and distribution of salmon biodiversity is increasingly important to support decision-making processes.

Specifically, annual tracking of Pacific salmon CU statuses will improve the ability to:

assess the impacts of climate change and other stressors on salmon;
identify and prioritize across management actions while improving the transparency of management decisions and trade-offs; and,
evaluate the effectiveness of management strategies aimed at conserving and rebuilding CUs.

Status Assessments for Wild Pacific Salmon

DFO’s Wild Salmon Policy (WSP) Strategy 1 outlines a broad framework for tracking salmon biodiversity through standardized monitoring of wild salmon statuses. Over the past 15 years since the WSP was published, a WSP status assessment approach has evolved through research, application, and refinement of methods.

To support status assessments, DFO developed a status assessment toolkit that is customized to the complex life histories and population structures of Pacific salmon (Holt et al. 2009, Holt 2009). This step formed the foundation of WSP status assessments, however, a critical next step was the development of the WSP integrated status assessment approach.

An integrated WSP status assessment approach provides objective and consistent expert-driven status assessments. It uses a structured decision-making process with salmon experts, supported by standardized data summary packages, to assess WSP status. This approach has been used to assess three groups of Pacific salmon Conservation Units (CUs) through four separate WSP Integrated Status Assessments: Fraser Sockeye (2012, 2017) Interior Fraser Coho (2015), and Southern BC Chinook (2016).

More recently, DFO’s State of the Salmon Program developed a streamlined approach to assess biological statuses of Pacific Salmon Conservation Units (CUs) through Wild Salmon Policy (WSP) rapid status assessments. The State of the Salmon program is coordinating and supporting local implementation of WSP rapid status assessments across species and areas.

Once completed and reviewed, WSP Rapid Statuses are uploaded into DFO’s Pacific Salmon Status Scanner. The Scanner is an interactive data visualization tool specifically designed for experts to support their work on Pacific salmon.

Climate Change Adaptation

Patterns in Canadian Pacific salmon abundances are emerging, concurrent with climate and habitat changes. Chinook are broadly declining in abundance throughout their BC and Yukon range, and many sockeye and coho populations are declining, most notably at southern latitudes. Pink salmon are generally not exhibiting long-term declines. Although Chum salmon were also not exhibiting declines previously, in recent years this species also has exhibited declines throughout its range. There are exceptions to all these patterns for particular populations.

In 2019 DFO conducted an expert-driven workshop to produce the following State of Salmon report describing salmon and ecosystem trends: State of Canadian Pacific Salmon 2019 E-Book

In 2023 DFO more recently collaborated with member countries of the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) (Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia, and the United States of America) to produce an updated status report for salmon throughout the North Pacific:
North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission: The status and trends of Pacific salmon and steelhead trout stocks with linkages to their ecosystem

We do not anticipate that long-term salmon survival patterns will reflect those we have seen historically, given the environmental changes that have been observed in recent years, and those predicted for the future in B.C. and the Yukon.

Climate change vulnerability assessments for Pacific salmon on the west coast of the U.S. indicate that vulnerability to climate change varies across Pacific salmon species and populations, determined by the habitats they occupy and their life histories (Crozier et al. 2019). Climate change vulnerability is largely higher for southern and interior populations, and is influenced by the amount of time salmon spend in fresh water and estuaries (Crozier et al. 2019). These patterns corroborate some of the general trends that have been observed across Pacific salmon populations in Canada.

As environmental conditions continue to change, adapting our salmon management systems to climate change is a critical next step. Adaptation means using information on current and future changes in climate not only to avoid or reduce negative impacts, but also to exploit potential benefits. We define meaningful adaptation as forward-looking and proactive. Incorporating climate adaptation into new and ongoing planning and decision-making processes has been associated with successful implementation of adaptation. A recent report produced by DFO provides a way forward with a list of activities and tools that can enable us to more thoroughly address climate change in salmon management. These include developing our capacity to adapt, creating a team to lead and support adaptation, improving collaboration, and initiating adaptation assessment and planning processes that are supported by climate change projections, vulnerability assessments and scenario planning:

Climate change adaptation for Pacific salmon.