Getting to 1-Million Returning Salmon
Conservation for the next 100 years
In 1988, scientists estimated that 1.1 million adult Atlantic salmon would return to North American rivers. Since then, we have come close, with returns reaching approximately 850,000 fish in both 2011 and 2021.
Returning to 1 million salmon is ambitious, but it is achievable.
To get there, we must address the challenges Atlantic salmon face throughout their entire journey - from the smallest headwater streams to the open ocean and back again.
Your support powers solutions across the entire salmon life cycle, helping restore rivers, protect critical habitat, advance science, and address the threats limiting salmon recovery.
The Watershed Movement is our blueprint for the future: a comprehensive, long-term strategy to build resilient rivers, healthy ecosystems, and abundant wild Atlantic salmon populations for generations to come.
Together, we can help create a future where wild Atlantic salmon once again thrive across North America.
One million salmon. A healthier future for our rivers. A legacy we can build together.
Here's our blueprint to 1-million returning wild Atlantic salmon:
Wild Salmon Watersheds
Conservation for the next 100 years
Help protect the rivers where Atlantic salmon still thrive—and ensure they remain strong for generations to come.
Our Vision: A network of locally led Atlantic salmon strongholds with abundant salmon populations and sustainable fisheries that benefit local communities.
Atlantic salmon still thrive in hundreds of rivers across North America. Yet these healthy watersheds face growing pressures from climate change, industrial development, and other emerging threats.
The Wild Salmon Watersheds program takes a proactive, long-term approach to conservation. Rather than waiting for rivers to decline, we work to strengthen the places where salmon remain abundant today—creating resilient strongholds that can support healthy populations for the next century and beyond.
At the heart of every Wild Salmon Watershed is partnership. Working alongside local conservation groups, Indigenous organizations, governments, and communities, we help develop a shared vision for the future of each river.
We begin with a simple but powerful question: What do you want this river to look like in 100 years?
With donor support, ASF provides the resources, expertise, and long-term commitment needed to help make that vision a reality.
Because when it comes to conservation, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Protect Wild Salmon Watersheds.
Headwaters
Reconnecting rivers to the sea
Help remove barriers and reconnect the rivers Atlantic salmon need to survive.
Our Vision: Free-flowing rivers from headwater spawning habitat to salt water.
There are thousands of barriers to fish migration across eastern North America, from large dams with inadequate fish passage to poorly installed culverts on remote logging roads. Together, these obstacles significantly reduce access to spawning habitat and limit the ability of wild Atlantic salmon populations to recover.
Since 2000, support from donors and partners has helped remove and remediate hundreds of barriers, reconnecting thousands of miles of river habitat. Working alongside local communities, the Headwaters program provides the resources and expertise needed to restore connectivity where it matters most.
Headwaters is a practical, proven approach to increasing access to habitat and helping wild Atlantic salmon return to their native rivers.
Help Reconnect Critical Salmon Habitat.
Kennebec River Renewal
A once-in-a-generation opportunity for Atlantic salmon recovery
Help restore one of North America's most important rivers for wild Atlantic salmon.
Our Vision: Reconnecting more than 800 river miles (1,300 kilometres) of the Kennebec River with the Gulf of Maine.
For more than 200 years, dams have prevented Atlantic salmon and other migratory fish from reaching some of the highest-quality spawning habitat in the United States.
Today, donors are helping make one of the most ambitious river restoration projects in the world possible. ASF and The Nature Conservancy have partnered to purchase four dams on Maine's Kennebec River, creating an unprecedented opportunity to restore free-flowing habitat.
Over the next decade, this work will reconnect more than 800 miles of rivers and streams, helping Atlantic salmon recover while revitalizing an entire ecosystem of migratory fish.
Together, we can help Atlantic salmon follow the path of another conservation success story—the bald eagle—and move toward a future where the species is no longer endangered in the United States.
Support the Kennebec River Restoration.
Greenland
Conserving salmon at sea
Help bring more Atlantic salmon home to the rivers where they belong.
Our Vision: A sustainable, well-managed salmon fishery that meets local needs while helping more adult Atlantic salmon return to North American and European rivers.
The coastal waters of Greenland are the feeding grounds for Atlantic salmon originating from more than 2,000 rivers across North America and Europe. Before returning home to spawn, salmon may spend up to three years in these waters.
Historically, uncontrolled commercial fishing dramatically reduced Atlantic salmon populations. Through decades of collaboration among fishers, governments, conservation organizations, and local communities, significant progress has been made.
Today, ASF works alongside Greenlandic leaders and fishers to maintain sustainable harvest levels while investing in research, conservation, and community partnerships that benefit both people and salmon.
By building trust and working together, we can help ensure more salmon survive their ocean journey and return home to spawn.
Help Protect Atlantic Salmon at Sea.
Salmon Farming
Seeking solutions to an existential threat
Help protect wild Atlantic salmon from one of their greatest modern challenges.
Our Vision: No more wild Atlantic salmon declines caused by ocean-based salmon farming and the recovery of affected populations.
Across Atlantic Canada, the expansion of ocean-based salmon farming continues to pose significant risks to wild Atlantic salmon. Scientific research has linked the industry to interbreeding between farmed and wild fish, as well as the spread of parasites and disease.
Donor support helps ASF advocate for stronger protections, challenge harmful decisions, and ensure governments and industry are held accountable for impacts on wild salmon and their habitat.
We also work with coastal communities, conservation partners, and consumers to build awareness and support practical solutions that protect wild Atlantic salmon for future generations.
Together, we can help ensure that wild salmon—not industrial practices—shape the future of our rivers and oceans.
Stand Up for Wild Atlantic Salmon.
Salmon Science
Turning knowledge into action.
Help fuel the research that guides Atlantic salmon conservation.
Our Vision: ASF at the centre of an international research collaborative focused on solving the most serious threats facing wild Atlantic salmon.
For more than three decades, ASF has helped advance our understanding of Atlantic salmon and the challenges they face. From documenting the impacts of escaped farmed salmon to pioneering ocean tracking technologies, our research has shaped conservation efforts across the North Atlantic.
But science is most valuable when it leads to action.
By integrating research directly into our conservation programs, ASF ensures that new knowledge informs policy, strengthens management decisions, and helps deliver meaningful outcomes for wild salmon.
Our long-term commitment to science allows us to tackle questions that cannot be answered in a single season or even a single decade. Through partnership, innovation, and persistence, we are helping build the knowledge needed to secure a future for wild Atlantic salmon.
Invest in Salmon Science.