Registration has opened for the ninth biennial Salmon Recovery Conference, scheduled for April 18-19, featuring salmon recovery projects, research, monitoring and more in Washington state.
The event is expected to bring together over 650 salmon recovery professionals to share their work aimed at recovering salmon.
The draft schedule for the event, which takes place at the Vancouver Convention Center, is online at the conference website, https://rco.wa.gov/salmon-recovery/salmon-recovery-conference/.
Early registration is open until March 8 and regular registration closes April 7. Ticket prices vary, with discounts available for student, nonprofit, tribal and virtual attendees.
The Salmon Recovery Conference is offered every other year by the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board, Recreation and Conservation Office, Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office, Puget Sound Partnership and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund.
This year’s theme, “A Shared Future,” reflects the connection between people, wildlife, the spaces they inhabit, and their relationship to salmon recovery, according to the event’s organizers.
“The slower we act, the faster our salmon will be pushed to the brink of survival,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement. “This conference brings together our best and brightest to develop long-term solutions that will help native salmon and steelhead recover and thrive.”
Conference presentations are expected to showcase innovative salmon recovery projects, lessons learned and best practices. Highlights are to include the stories and science learned from the International Year of the Salmon’s Pan-Pacific winter 2022 high seas expedition; an effort led by five international research vessels to study salmon in the north Pacific Ocean.
Other topics include climate change, community partnerships, outreach and education, monitoring and adaptive management efforts, policy initiatives and regulations, updates on efforts to save endangered Southern Resident orcas and projects to open fish passage and restore floodplains and estuaries.