Pacific Salmon Foundation

SEHAB Roundtable

November 2015

  1. PSF’s Salish Sea Marine Survival Program received a $2 million cash commitment from the 2015 Federal Budget to support Strait of Georgia research and restoration efforts – as of yesterday payment had yet to be finalized.
  2. SEP Review & response from PSF: PSF was disappointed in some of the findings and is seeking explanation and redress as possible. Discussions with DFO have been helpful so far, and PSF hopes to have an opportunity to respond to draft results prior to publication for future reviews. Some concern is that DFO staff was directly involved in the project selection process, which is not the case, and application language has been modified to more clearly reflect this. 
  3. Uncertainty over continuation of the DFO Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnership Program is concerning to PSF grant recipients and our funding strategies. More than 50% of 2015’s Community Salmon Program budget was granted to projects in which RFCPP was the major funder.
  4. The Community Salmon Program is moving to an online-only application process to be implemented for the Spring 2016 funding round intake. The process will be simplified and look similar to the applicant, but data collection and reporting will be made more manageable on the back end.
  5. A $15 M campaign pledge from the former Conservative government for PSF to support salmon and habitat enhancement works is not expected to be upheld and will not be incorporated into our 2016 budget.