Mossom hatchery marks Wild Salmon Day with calls for collaboration and determination

Across B.C. and the Yukon, there are fewer salmon in the streams and fewer streamkeepers watching those salmon.

Those dual declines have prompted concerns that some salmon populations “may be disappearing, unrecorded,” according to the 2025 State of Salmon report written by the Pacific Salmon Foundation.

Just off Ioco Road in Port Moody, Mossom Creek Hatchery, streamkeepers, volunteers, artists, and the Mayor of Port Moody gathered to celebrate Wild Salmon Day and to talk about reversing those declines.

“You, like wild salmon, are resilient,” Pacific Salmon Foundation president Michael Meneer told the group.

About two-thirds of salmon populations are lower than their longterm average across the region. While those declines – largely attributed to climate change and habitat degradation – won’t be easily reversed, Meneer was adamant that there was also reason for optimism.

“Our salmon need us,” he said.

Besides being crucial to the environment and to keep, wild salmon are: “a key part of our economy,” Meneer said.

He called on everyone in the room to relay that message to various levels of government.

“We can continue to build a wild salmon economy in British Columbia by supporting conservation and restoration work,” he said. “Make sure you’re letting your MPs know and your MLAs know.”

Salmon populations are at a crisis point, said John Henderson, an artist and wildlife advocate of the Wei Wai Kum First Nation in Campbell River.

“I believe that by working together collectively, we’ll get the job done in the long run,” he said. “Nature’s a big beast, and if we look after it, it looks after us.”

Henderson spoke about inheriting both the struggles and responsibilities of his ancestors.

“Our ancestors were conservationists,” he said. “They knew when to fish . . . they knew what not to disrupt.”

However, many efforts at salmon recovery by Indigenous groups have been stymied, he told the group, noting the loss of rivers and villages.

“How do we speak for salmon collectively?” he asked. “I’m here today because that’s what we’re doing.”

Port Moody Mayor Meghan Lahti spoke about the importance of a healthy ecosystem to support the salmon population.

“Wild salmon are essential to our environment and to our identity as a community here at the head of Burrard Inlet,” she said.

The event ended with fry being released into the creek.

First held in B.C. in 2019, Wild Salmon Day began as a time to celebrate wild salmon and to acknowledge the threats they face.