Tokyo, Japan – With support from the Wild Salmon Center (WSC), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Japan and WWF Russia organized today the first workshop ever held in Japan on responsible procurement of Russian wild salmon by the Japanese seafood industry. The workshop counted on the participation of representatives from Russian, Japanese, German and Canadian seafood companies and the NGO sector, including the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Japan, TRAFFIC Japan, Plavnik, a Russian salmon company, Gottfried-Friedrichs, a German seafood business and Albion, a fish trader from Canada.

Japan is the largest buyer of Russian sockeye salmon, which is predominantly caught in the seas of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East. As such, WWF and WSC believe that Japanese companies can, and should play a key role in driving sustainable management and procurement of wild salmon fisheries in Russia and across the Pacific Rim.

The workshop aimed to mobilize Japanese buyers of Russian salmon to promote changes towards sustainable fishing practices in the Russian salmon fishery. Despite their strong impact on salmon fisheries in the North Pacific, most Japanese seafood companies and consumers are unaware of the serious risks associated with Kamchatka salmon fishing: strong market demand which is encouraging pirate and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, unsustainable fishing practices and discards (many non-target fish species and other marine animals accidentally caught in the nets are thrown overboard) and opaque trade of salmon products.

New study finds hatcheries change salmon genetics after a single generation, decreasing their survival rates when returned to the wild.Scientists ask, what will this mean for the future of wild salmon? See article link for more details.

State of the Salmon brought together 200 fishery resource managers, scientists, fishing industry representatives, community leaders and conservationists to explore issues and opportunities surrounding the theme--salmon in a changing climate. Topics covered a wide scope from ocean acidification to genetic diversity and range adaptations. Read more.

A lethal and highly contagious marine virus has been detected for the first time in wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest, according to researchers in British Columbia.

Some scientists have suggested that the virus had spread from the province’s aquaculture industry and there is general agreement that more testing is needed. This same virus has decimated salmon in Chile and the Atlantic, with some farms losing up to 70% of their fish. The virus, if not contained, could have a devastating impact not just on the region’s farmed salmon, but also wild salmon and the many species that depend on them.

Follow links for articles from the New York Times and tv news coverage.

Today, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and the entire West Coast Senate delegation introduced federal legislation to conserve the healthiest remaining wild Pacific salmon ecosystems in North America—“Salmon Strongholds.”

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) announced today that the Ozernaya River sockeye fishery has entered the full assessment phase of the MSC certification process. The Ozernaya sockeye fishery is a large and commercially significant sockeye salmon fishery located in Southwest Kamchatka. This is the first fishery from the Kamchatka Peninsula, one of the world’s most productive fishery regions, to enter the MSC assessment process.

WSC partner Dmitry Lisitsyn has been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, the preeminent environmental prize for excellence in conservation, for his efforts on Sakhalin Island.

Sakhalin is the third most abundant salmon region in the world after Alaska and the Kamchatka Peninsula. As Chairman of Sakhalin Environment Watch, Dmitry has successfully fought illegal poaching on priority salmon rivers and helped create the Vostochny Wildlife Refuge.

Read more about Dmitry and our partnership to protect the rich marine and freshwater ecosystems of Sakhalin.

This Earth Day, Sierra Nevada is helping people get out for a good cause. For every consumer who makes an online pledge to get outside in April, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company will donate $25, up to $2,500 each, to one of a select number of charities. The organization with the most votes will receive $5,000.

Visit SierraUnplug.com, make the pledge, and vote for Wild Salmon Center!

In a recent scientific paper co-authored with our Japanese partners, WSC attempts to determine the environmental factors that have shaped the historical distribution of Sakhalin taimen.

Due to development and overfishing, over 90 percent of Sakhalin taimen's historic abundance has been lost. The study is part of WSC's ongoing efforts to understand and help protect this enigmatic species, the largest and most ancient of the salmonids.

Congratulations to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) on their purchase of salmon habitat along the Clearwater River! WSC advised TNC on key land acquisitions within Washington's coastal salmon strongholds, including Celarwater's lowland habitat, and provided data to build arguments for increased protections. Let's hear it for partnership!