US government awards USD 9 million for Pacific salmon recovery research

NOAA Fisheries has awarded USD 9 million (EUR 8.6 million) for academic research designed to help Pacific salmon populations recover. Most of the money – USD 7.5 million (EUR 7.2 million) – was awarded to the Cooperative Institute for Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Systems at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC). University staff will partner with NOAA scientists through the Fisheries Collaborative Program to conduct research in support of salmon recovery.

“Transforming the future for Pacific salmon requires new thinking, and that is where the UCSC-NOAA collaboration really shines,” Eric Palkovacs, a professor and director of the UCSC Fisheries Collaborative Program, said in a statement. “We have fully integrated research teams working on the biggest challenges, developing and field testing new restoration approaches.”

NOAA fisheries awarded six grants in total, with funding also being allocated to ]cooperative institutes at the University of Washington, Oregon State University, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

“The aim of the work is to create new tools that can evaluate the effectiveness and cost of different recovery strategies and fill critical information gaps,”

Southwest Fisheries Science Center Fisheries Ecology Division Director Steve Lindley said. “This will include work across all the habitats that salmon use over the course of their lives – rivers, estuaries, and the ocean.”

The awards were made possible thanks to funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, which provided the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden USD 27 million (EUR 26 million) to spend on Pacific salmon recovery research.

“The Inflation Reduction Act funding allows us to engage our academic partners and make rapid scientific advancement in critical areas,” Lindley said.