Friends,

I know the news these days can feel overwhelming. With the growing impacts of climate change, environmental protections being weakened, and mounting pressure on ecosystems, it’s easy to feel discouraged—especially when it comes to protecting wild salmon.

That’s why, this year for the 2025 May 6-7 GiveBIG! community giving event, we wanted to share something different— good news. Below we’ve shared one example of our work as a reminder that real, impactful solutions continue to take shape. We hope you’ll make a donation this GiveBig to support one of the most exciting advancements in salmon recovery and sustainable fishing on the coast.

And if you need a reminder that big change is possible, just look at what we have already accomplished together through the Our Sound, Our Salmon coalition. Just months ago, we made history when Washington became the first—and only—place in the world to successfully remove and permanently ban commercial net pen aquaculture. That victory was the result of years of collective activism and shows that when we work together, we can achieve major environmental victories for wild salmon and Puget Sound’s ecosystems.

With your support during GiveBIG, we have a powerful opportunity to lead a coastwide shift toward sustainable, selective fisheries, protect wild salmon and their ecosystems, and secure a stronger future for the communities that depend on them.

With gratitude,
Emma Helverson
Executive Director
Wild Fish Conservancy

We Need Your Help to Launch a Coastal Model for Wild Salmon Recovery & Resilient Fisheries

We are thrilled to share that this summer, Washington and Oregon are finally taking a historic step forward to launch a new sustainable and selective fishery for fish traps, also known as pound nets, on the lower Columbia River. For the first time in nearly a century, commercial fishers will have the choice to fish with an alternative fishing method to the conventional gillnet. Learn more in our most recent Fish Trap Journal post.

The launch of this new fishery is the culmination and direct result of a decade of groundbreaking research by Wild Fish Conservancy in collaboration with local fishers to develop alternative fishing methods able to protect threatened wild salmon and steelhead from being incidentally killed or harmed in commercial fisheries. WFC’s published research demonstrates the ability of fish traps to safely and selectively release wild salmon and steelhead with nearly 100% survival to natal spawning grounds. 

This truly momentous occasion is charting a new path forward for a resilient and sustainable fishery and will have long lasting benefits for the recovery of wild salmon and fishing economies in the Columbia Basin. With the launch of this new fishery, fishers can now operate knowing they are aiding wild salmon recovery by protecting at-risk species and benefiting from the selective harvest of hatchery-origin fish and other invasive species that are known to compromise wild salmon and steelhead recovery— a win-win for wild salmon, steelhead, orcas, fishers, and coastal economies.

We want to thank you for all your support. It’s because of the dedication and investment from supporters like you that we are able to turn years of successful research into a fully legalized commercial fish trap fishery on the lower Columbia River.

But while we’ve made incredible progress, we need your help now more than ever.

The success of this new fishery is not just critical for the Columbia River—it’s being closely watched by fishery managers, Tribal Nations, First Nations, and coastal communities across the Pacific Northwest and beyond. This emerging fishery is serving as a working model to demonstrate the critical role of selective fishing methods in protecting wild salmon and creating resilient, sustainable fisheries. Ensuring its success could open the door to a new era of selective, sustainable fisheries throughout the region—making your support now urgent and crucial.

With the summer quickly approaching, we need your help to ensure WFC and our fishing partners have the sources necessary to scale this solution for the benefit of salmon recovery coastwide.

Here’s what your GiveBIG contribution will make possible for wild salmon and coastal communities:

• Direct support for progressive commercial fishers transitioning to fish traps drawing on our years of experience engineering, building, and experimenting with fish traps. WFC staff will work directly with commercial fishers to share knowledge, assist with initial deployment of the new fishing technology, and advance successful ecological and economic outcomes for this emerging sustainable fishery
   
• Expanded research and refinement of fish trap technology to support long-term wild fish recovery and coastal fishing economies
   
• Outreach to commercial fishers, Tribes, First Nations, fishery managers, and coastal communities in Oregon, Washington, and beyond using the success and precedence on the Columbia River as working model to inspire replication in other coastal communities using the success and precedence on the Columbia River as working model to inspire replication in other coastal communities

Want to learn more? Check out our latest Fish Trap Journal post: Columbia River Fish Traps Return for the Recovery of Wild Fish and Fishing Economies