Seeing wild salmon thrive: Our wild dream

Our new animation sheds light on the work we do to protect wild salmon.

At Raincoast, we’re science-based in every sense of the word. We conduct research and publish peer-reviewed papers and reports that form the basis of our advocacy. The results of our work aren’t only found in academic journals. We bring science to the public, to the desks of decision-makers, and to the government. Our research helps to shape policy, legislation, and public opinion for the benefit of the wildlife and ecosystems that we care deeply about.

The first video in our new animation series, Ripple Effect, shares how we act on the unwavering commitment we have to see wild salmon thrive in wild rivers. 

Our work 

Fisheries

We participate in federal fisheries management processes to implement salmon management that honors the connection between wild salmon and the watersheds they return to. We attend stakeholder meetings, submit scientific briefs, collaborate with university researchers, and publish academic papers about what future fisheries could become.

Policy

Governments generally do not consider the natural world when they make decisions.  Yet the lands and waters their decisions affect are the habitats for the province’s species. This is the primary reason we have a biodiversity crisis and such extensive habitat destruction.   

Raincoast’s team critically evaluates policies related to salmon and their habitats at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels. We advocate for planning that considers salmon in all land use and water use decision making.  We write policy reports, reach out to communities, and provide input to government. We also collaborate with Indigenous Nations to support management and stewardship objectives in their territories.  

Habitat

We restore degraded habitats and re-establish natural conditions  that are integral for ecosystem function.  For example, our work in the Fraser River Estuary has made five large openings in two jetties that have blocked access to vital salmon habitat for a century.  Salmon now move through these openings and rear in saltmarsh habitat while they prepare for their next life stage.

Climate 

We address the compounding effects that poor land use practices have in the context of climate change.  This includes agriculture, mining, forestry, and industrial water withdrawals in interior watersheds of British Columbia. Coupled with hydrological shifts associated with climate change – including a reduction in snowpack depth, earlier spring melts, and diminished summer precipitation – the quality and quantity of freshwater habitat available for at-risk salmon populations has diminished considerably.

We use quantitative research, collaboration with Indigenous Nations and water users, and engagement with the provincial government to advance better water management policies that limit the effects of drought on salmon habitat. 

Sharing our results

We share our work with the public through op-eds, public events, workshops, reports, and media. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn and care about the issues that wild salmon face so that they are better equipped to take action in their communities.

These fish, and the ecosystems they return to, are woven into the fabric of who we are.  

We have an unwavering commitment to see wild salmon thrive in wild rivers.

You can help

Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.

We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.

Coastal wolf with a salmon in its month.
Photo by Dene Rossouw.