ARCHIVED - Fisheries and Oceans Canada

The Atlantic Salmon Endowment Fund (ASEF) is a one time conditional grant that will be invested in order to provide long-term funding for the operation of the Atlantic Salmon Conservation Foundation (ASCF). The ASCF will invest the funds and use the income to assist community groups in the restoration, protection and improved conservation of the Atlantic salmon resource in Atlantic Canada and Quebec. This will promote projects in research, conservation, habitat restoration and enhancement for the attainment of healthy and sustainable wild Atlantic salmon stocks and the projects the ASCF funds.

Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture

• In 2007, the ASCF initiated start-up activities to establish the ASEF and developed their Strategic Plan, Statement of Investment Policy, Audit and Evaluation Strategy and their 2008 Business Plan.
• In 2008, the ASCF will continue to finalize their start-up activities through refining the audit and evaluation strategy. The foundation intends to establish a rigorous funding application, application review, granting and evaluation process. Recommendations to the Board on these processes is the mandate of the Central Advisory Committee which will review the granting processes, procedures and criteria for solicitation, application, assessment, selection, reporting and evaluation of the Ultimate Projects. These processes will be developed and implemented allowing the Foundation to act as a funding mechanism for priority conservation, restoration and enhancement initiatives identified in watershed planning prepared by volunteer community organizations.
• The Foundation plans to accept and review applications in the Spring of 2008 and then intends to provide approximately $0.7 million to fund Ultimate Projects that meet the objectives to conserve, restore and protect the wild Atlantic salmon stocks and their habitat in Atlantic Canada and Quebec.
• The Foundation will conduct a public awareness campaign through a variety of media. Additionally, its members will participate in conferences and meetings as a means to establish strategic partnerships with stakeholder groups.

The ASCF will review the Ultimate Projects funded annually to measure their overall performance in achieving the ASEF Program purpose and objectives identified in the Funding Agreement. The Foundation will conduct periodic status and management evaluation reports. A progress report will be included in the Annual Report submitted to the Minister which evaluates the development of the Foundation's programs. The Foundation will have an evaluation of its activities and projects carried out no less frequently than every five years by an independent third party.

The ASCF will require that all Ultimate Recipients conduct an audit of the projects funded and provide a project audit report annually. The Foundation will submit audited financial statements along with an auditor's report each year as part of its Annual Report to the Minister.

The fund, supported by a $30 million federal endowment from Fisheries and Oceans Canada in 1999, and managed by a non profit organization (Pacific Salmon Foundation), uses interest income proceeds from the fund to undertake specific plans and activities to support salmon. The mission of the Pacific Salmon Endowment Fund is to: conserve and rebuild Pacific salmon populations through strategic and focused efforts where people and resources are mobilized to work together to achieve common goals.

• Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture refers to an integrated fisheries and aquaculture program that is credible, science based, affordable and effective, and contributes to sustainable wealth for Canadians.
• Healthy and Productive Aquatic Ecosystems means the sustainable development and integrated management of resources in or around Canada's aquatic environment through oceans and fish habitat management, and the critical science activities that support these two programs.

• The PSEF proposed plan for the upcoming year is to focus on a multi-year strategy to help restore the once abundant, diverse populations of all species of salmon in the Fraser River watershed. The two key objectives will be to support preservation of diverse Fraser salmon stocks as defined in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Wild Salmon Policy and to support the creation of a stable Fraser commercial salmon share system. The strategic goals include 1) empower individuals, enterprises and institutions to support salmon ecosystems 2) promote salmon sustainability criteria in watershed management 3) accelerate tools to cooperatively manage in-river fisheries that preserve weak stocks 4) facilitate stakeholder processes to determine how best to harvest salmon shares and 5) reduce resource conflicts amongst First Nations and between First Nations and other user groups.
• The PSEF Society will be developing their business plan to identify specific activities and projects for the upcoming fiscal year based on their key strategic objectives and goals.