Deadline: 20-Aug-25
The Pacific Salmon Commission’s Southern Fund Committee (SFC) is seeking proposals for project concepts that support the implementation of the Pacific Salmon Treaty.
Project Priority Areas
- Habitat Preservation and Restoration
- The SFC encourages project concepts for on-the-ground projects designed to benefit wild stocks of salmon by protecting or improving the quality or quantity of their habitat, as described in the Strategic Plan.
- Projects will seek to:
- Restore salmon habitat in estuaries, supporting soft-shore initiatives by reestablishing eelgrass beds, restoring, or reclaiming saltwater marsh benches, etc.
- Implement modifications of in-stream habitat to improve productivity, e.g., large woody debris structures, spawning gravel placement, boulder clusters and bank stabilization.
- Construct side channels and other off-channel habitat, including spawning and rearing channels or ponds, ox-bow reconnection, dike breaching, etc.
- Restore fish passage through such things as culvert removal/replacement, remediation of barriers to migration.
- Restore and protect wetlands, riparian, and upland habitat, e.g., through activities such as land acquisition, livestock exclusion fencing, riparian re-vegetation and replanting, upland sediment source remediation, conservation easements, etc.
- Southern Panel Recommendations
- The Pacific Salmon Commission’s Southern Panel has considered Coho Technical Committee (CoTC) and Chum Technical Committee (Chum TC) advice on their research priorities for potential consideration and funding by the SFC in the 2026 cycle. The SFC will be mindful of the following prioritized list of research and work topics when considering which projects to support in 2026:
- Coho Technical Committee priorities:
- Incorporating environmental change and uncertainty into assessment and management frameworks – High Priority
- Continued development of escapement estimates for the Lower Fraser and Strait of Georgia Management Units (MUs) – High Priority
- Evaluate productivity over time – High Priority
- Coho Diversity – High Priority
- Support efforts to evaluate and further improve input data to the FRAM model e.g. Estimation of post fishery-pre-spawn mortality loss – Medium Priority
- Loss of juveniles and adults due to predation or chemicals – Medium Priority
- Establish new and improved data collection and sampling for coho MUs and component populations – Medium Priority
- Fraser River Panel (FRP) recommendations
- The SFC has received advice about funding priorities from the FRP which will inform decisions about 2026 projects. The FRP has not assigned a relative priority to the topics listed below.
- Additional Fraser sockeye salmon juvenile monitoring.
- Examination of mechanisms affecting survival of adult and juvenile Fraser River sockeye and pink salmon.
- Improvement of species composition estimates in the Fraser River during adult sockeye and pink salmon migration.
- Building on Test Fishery workshops, evaluate Test Fishery design and operation to collect the necessary data for in-season estimates, while reducing unnecessary fishing mortality and operating costs.
- Improvement to in-season and post-season assessment of Fraser River sockeye and pink salmon stocks.
- Work to restore salmon habitat that would be of benefit to Fraser River sockeye and pink populations (and possibly also other salmon species).
- Projects that would help to further advance hydro-acoustic or other assessment techniques in the lower Fraser River, in support of continually improving in-season estimates of sockeye and pink salmon abundance.
- Facilitate dialog between U.S. Tribes and Canadian First Nations to improve collaboration and communication between the parties.
- The SFC has received advice about funding priorities from the FRP which will inform decisions about 2026 projects. The FRP has not assigned a relative priority to the topics listed below.
- Chinook Technical Committee (CTC) Priorities
- The SFC has received advice about funding priorities from the CTC which will inform decisions about 2026 proposals. The CTC has not assigned a relative priority to the areas listed below:
- Priorities for CTC analytical improvements:
- PSC Coast Wide Chinook Model and Exploitation Rate Analysis development and improvement using contemporary modelling software (e.g., R).
- Improvement of methods for stock and fishery assessments (e.g., estimation of spatial/temporal stock-age distribution, projection of maturation rates for incomplete broods, systematic evaluation of current analytical methods using the Data Generation Model).
- Improvements to the forecasting tools (e.g., models and evaluations) used to inform CTC analyses.
- Research and development work related to improving the PSC Chinook Model or exploring alternative modelling/management strategies for Chapter 3 of the PST.
- Incorporating environmental factors (e.g., changes in incidental fishing mortalities, predation loss, distribution patterns, interspecies interactions, alteration of maturation schedules and productivities, sudden extreme events, and pre-spawn mortality) into analytical methods for stock and fishery assessments.
- Measures to cope with declines in productivity of natural-origin stocks and uncertainties relating to environmental change.
- Okanagan Work Group (OWG) Priorities
- The SFC has received advice about funding priorities from the OWG which will inform decisions about 2026 proposals. The OWG has not assigned a relative priority to the areas listed below:
- Restoration activities that benefit the salmon ecosystem in the Okanagan.
- Projects in the Okanagan and Columbia River that prevent, monitor, respond to, and suppress the spread of invasive species that are predators on salmon or species and habitat modifications that lead to increased predation on salmon.
- Activities that support improvements to the bilateral enhancement programs for Okanagan summer Chinook, including research into juvenile survival and improvements to the collection and survival of adult broodstock.
- Activities that could benefit the abundance and productivity of Okanagan summer Chinook.
- The SFC has received advice about funding priorities from the OWG which will inform decisions about 2026 proposals. The OWG has not assigned a relative priority to the areas listed below:
Funding Information
- The SFC anticipates approximately $4 million USD will be available for project funding in 2026, based on investment performance.
Eligibility Criteria
- Private, non-profit, and public sector applicants are eligible and encouraged to apply. Ongoing projects and individual proponents that have received support from the Southern Fund in previous years are encouraged to apply and must be in good standing at the Stage Two (Detailed Proposal) round to remain eligible.
- The SFC is not inclined to support routine/ongoing monitoring activities unless the project is designed to address gaps in the understanding of key mechanisms or management approaches.
For more information, visit PSC.