The Honorable Joanne Thompson, Minister of Fisheries, announced $412.9 million over five years to renew the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative (PSSI). The renewed PSSI will build on the successes achieved since the initiative was first launched in 2021, enabling continued collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, provincial and territorial governments, harvesters, stewardship partners, environmental organizations, academia, and communities across the West Coast. These partnerships have been central to the progress made to conserve and restore critical salmon habitat, combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fisheries in the North Pacific, modernize and retrofit over 70 hatchery facilities, and construct three new hatcheries, which will support the rebuilding of stocks of conservation concern.

The PSSI will enable continued protection and recovery of wild Pacific salmon stocks of greatest conservation concern. It will also strengthen science and monitoring, enable essential habitat restoration, modernize salmon fisheries, and expand collaboration with partners. Addressing the decline of Pacific salmon is not something DFO can do alone; it requires the collective energy of governments, First Nations, the scientific and academic communities, and local stewardship groups working together to share their experience and take action.

Funded through A Force of Nature: Canada’s Strategy to Protect Nature, the renewed PSSI brings total Government of Canada funding to protect and restore Pacific salmon to nearly $1.1 billion over ten years—an unprecedented level of support for these vital species and the communities that depend on them.

The Government of Canada will continue working closely with First Nations and Indigenous organizations, provincial and territorial governments, local communities, industry, and conservation organizations to advance shared priorities for wild Pacific salmon recovery and long-term sustainability. By working together, we can provide ecosystem, cultural, social, and economic benefits for coastal communities and all Canadians.

Quick Facts

• Over the past five years, Phase 1 of PSSI has supported over 443 partners to restore 15.7 million m² of wild Pacific salmon habitat.
• Work under PSSI involves partnerships with more than 40 First Nations and Indigenous organizations, who have collaborated on 60+ Indigenous Harvest Transformation projects, advancing selective fishing methods and improving monitoring.
• PSSI investments have supported new conservation capacity at hatcheries, including retrofits to more than 70 existing hatcheries, and funding to maintain and operate more than 100 partner-run hatcheries.
• Much work remains: 43 designatable units of wild Pacific salmon have been assessed as at-risk by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada: 24 as endangered, 10 as threatened, and 9 as special concern.