Key Initiatives
The State of the Salmon Consortium is a network of partners that promotes salmon conservation principles and their effective application at multiple scales. We synthesize data and facilitate dialogue to build a transparent knowledge network that informs salmon conservation and management decisions around the Pacific Rim. We seek to catalyze conservation efforts and their evaluation by creating broad access to information on salmon status and trends across the North Pacific.
In order to ensure that people can continue to fish salmon commercially and enjoy them as a wild and healthy food source, State of the Salmon works to ensure that salmon fisheries are well managed and sustainable. SoS engages as a stakeholder in the certification process, and works directly with fisheries to identify and implement practical solutions to management and conservation challenges.
Working collaboratively with government resource agencies, State of the Salmon assists the evaluation of fishery polices and management strategies by building capacity for internal management of essential conservation information and the ability to provide public access to this data.
As concerns about climate change and marine survival conditions mount, State of the Salmon works to synthesize information about production limitations in the ocean environment and catalyze actions to help maintain the productivity of wild salmon populations.
While hatcheries have a role in both the recovery of wild fish and increasing fishing opportunities, hatcheries can put wild stocks at risk. State of the Salmon helps people understand the role of hatcheries in salmon fisheries and ensure that management strategies are designed to protect the health, diversity and abundance of wild salmon.
In order to stem biodiversity loss and secure a future for wild salmon, State of the Salmon collaborates with scientists, salmon managers, conservationists, fishers and others to build a greater understanding of the dynamic interactions between salmon and their habitats, informing management decisions about spawning escapements in rapidly changing environments.
In collaboration with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), State of the Salmon systematically catalogues Pacific salmon biodiversity, identifies important knowledge gaps, and assesses the overall condition of wild salmon based on accepted international standards.
Publications
Among the seven nations of the north Pacific Rim, landscapes and institutional frameworks vary widely. Our work at State of the Salmon began with a large-scale effort to gather and standardize disparate data. We produced the first range-wide, map-based assessment of Pacific salmon status and trends and published a manual that enables agencies, tribes, and others surveying salmon to better focus future monitoring efforts.
Salmonid Field Protocols Handbook: Techniques for assessing status and trends in salmon and trout populations identifies and articulates the best available salmon monitoring practices from across the North Pacific.
The Atlas of Pacific Salmon is the only map-based assessment of the distribution and risk of extinction for seven species of Pacific salmon — at one consistent scale, under one authorship, using state-of-the-art GIS mapping tools.