From: Fisheries and Oceans Canada (canada.ca)

Eight new projects are receiving approximately $10.5M in funding through the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF). This brings the total number of projects funded to 38, accounting for $66.9M of $142.85M in total funding allocated. The latest projects that are receiving funding through BCSRIF include:

• the Pacific Salmon Foundation will receive approximately $410,000 over three years to integrate traditional and modern technologies to automate salmon counting and species identification from video and sonar data. Connecting these tools with community-run escapement monitoring programs around the North and Central coast to inform adaptive management of salmon fisheries;
• the ‘Namgis First Nation will receive approximately $1,977,000 over five years to support Phase 2 of a project to establish an independent British Columbia (BC) First Nations genomics laboratory. Project partners will equip the kł cp̓əlk̓ stim̓ laboratory to analyze samples collected through the Indigenous Monitoring and Inspection Plan (IMIP), as well as providing services to other First Nations in BC with an interest in conducting independent fish health sampling;
• the Pacific Salmon Foundation will receive approximately $336,000 over one year to support upgrades to the Percy Walkus Hatchery in Rivers Inlet, which provides local capacity to enhance three local Chinook salmon stocks of significant cultural and economic significance;
• the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council will receive approximately $390,000 over four years to undertake an evaluation of spatial and in-season management options for associated food, social, and ceremonial (FSC), and commercial herring fisheries to ensure the sustainability of these fisheries on the West coast of Vancouver Island;
• the University of BC will receive approximately $1,829,000 over four years to provide a BC-based solution for growing larger, more physiologically robust Atlantic salmon smolts in freshwater recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). This project will help to improve both the sustainability and productivity of BC’s aquaculture industry by increasing the amount of time farmed salmon are reared in land-based RAS and reducing the amount of time farmed Atlantic salmon spend in marine net-pens;
• the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance Society will receive approximately $679,000 over four years to contribute to an improved understanding of stock status and trends through the development of passive integrated transponder tag mark-recapture techniques for hatchery Coho salmon in the Chilliwack River during spawning migration. The infrastructure developed for this project will be used to inform future work on stock level studies of Fraser salmon;
• the Pacific Salmon Foundation will receive approximately $4,619,000 over four years to develop the monitoring and evaluation framework to determine survival bottlenecks in freshwater and marine environments for hatchery and wild Chinook, Coho, and Steelhead; and,
• the Spruce City Wildlife Association will receive approximately $240,000 over two years to support infrastructure upgrades to its conservation hatchery to improve biosecurity and enhance production at the facility to support the restoration and rebuilding of Upper and Middle Fraser Chinook stocks.

BCSRIF will be accepting new applications for funding from July 15 to September 15, 2020. Funding is available for projects that meet the eligibility and assessment criteria in BC. Priorities for the fund in 2020 are:

• research to refine the scientific understanding of Fraser Steelhead, Chinook, and Coho through science collaborations and the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge;
• habitat restoration projects that target red status conservation units or COSEWIC-listed populations;
• innovative processes and technologies to increase the quality and value of BC fish and seafood products and optimize fishing operations;
• projects to advance selective fishing practices aimed at minimizing bycatch of species of concern;
• new aquaculture technologies and processes to improve environmental performance and increase supply chain transparency; and,
• infrastructure upgrades or improvements to existing hatcheries.

Further information on the application process, timelines and program criteria are available on the BCSRIF website: www.bcsrif.ca