The Pacific Salmon Foundation has updated an important database that allows British Columbians to track the spawning status of salmon throughout most of the province.
The Pacific Salmon Explorer is an interactive online tool to analyze some of the most comprehensive data available for all salmon species in B.C.’s fresh waters. For the past 10 years the explorer’s reach was confined to the North and Central Coast populations. The expansion announced Sept. 22 now includes Southern B.C., adding 150 new genetically and geographically distinct groups of salmon across 160,000 square kilometres of freshwater habitat.
As a result, 80 per cent of B.C.’s 411 populations, or Conservation Units, are now accounted for in the database.
“The Pacific Salmon Explorer is a high priority for the Pacific Salmon Foundation and we will continue to catalyze efforts to bring together salmon experts and support them in using the Pacific Salmon Explorer to identify strategies for supporting the conservation and recovery of salmon,” said Michael Meneer, president and PSF CEO. “Involving the people who are monitoring, restoring, and making decisions about salmon conservation and management, has been, and will continue to be, a central tenet of this work.”
The Pacific Salmon Exploreer is manged by PSF’s Samon Waterheds Program to collect current data for the purpose of conservation and recovery of salmon stocks, through collaboration with First Nations, federal and provincial gobernments, academics, NGOs and indpendent salmon experts.
In the past, the Pacific Salmon Explorer has been used to support assessments of threatend or endangerd salmon groups by the Committee ont he Status of Engangered Wildlife in Canada. More recently it was used to guide development of a strategic plan on the B.C. Central Coast to identify the most cost-effective conservation strategy for salmo nin the region.
