Pacific salmon enhancement

Many Canadian Pacific salmon stocks are in decline. Within the Department and with our partners, we use several different tools to support vulnerable stocks and to support harvest.

The salmonid enhancement program

Salmon enhancement is the use of hatcheries, managed spawning channels and incubation methods to support salmon and contribute to their recovery. We use enhancement to:

help conserve wild stocks
help with the rebuilding of wild salmon
provide salmon for sustainable harvest opportunities
engage with communities, including education and stewardship
support stock assessment and science

To ensure stocks remain healthy and diverse, we use an integrated approach to salmon management and enhancement that includes guidance from:

Canada's Policy for Conservation of Wild Pacific Salmon
Canada’s Precautionary Approach Framework
Canada’s Interim Pacific Salmon Enhancement Policy Framework
Pacific salmon enhancement frameworks and guidelines
Science
Indigenous knowledge

Conservation and rebuilding at-risk salmon populations

Along with our partners, we support both the conservation and rebuilding of salmon stocks through enhancement and habitat stewardship as well as restoration activities. We see conservation as supporting endangered and at risk stocks whose population numbers have dropped dramatically, and could be at risk of disappearing without some support. We see rebuilding as increasing salmon stocks that have seen declines. To understand what tool is best to support declining stocks, experts across a range of backgrounds work together to identify bottlenecks and create strategies to support these stocks.

Creating fish for sustainable harvest

By enhancing salmon populations and protecting their habitats, we support Indigenous, recreational and commercial opportunities to fish. All salmon fisheries are subject to Canadian fishery policies, frameworks, guidelines and regulations.

Engaging with communities

Through programs like the Community Involvement Program, the Pacific Streamkeeper Program and Salmonids in the classroom, and through the Salmonid Enhancement Habitat Advisory Board (SEHAB), we work with community groups, organizations, and schools to build relationships with local communities to raise awareness of salmon conservation and rebuilding efforts.

Stock assessment

We plan and support local salmon stock assessment activities to build our understanding of salmon populations, including the size and health of their populations, where they travel and how successfully they spawn.

Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative

The Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative (PSSI) guides coordinated and collaborative action to stabilize and restore Pacific salmon. Funding is supporting community partnerships and program changes to meet current and future challenges. This includes working with our partners to adapt facilities for climate change and to accommodate more at-risk stocks; support community hatchery programming; improve our scientific understanding of habitat restoration and enhancement; support habitat restoration and protection activities; and develop frameworks and guidance to support both our and our partner’s projects.

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