Salmon-Safe is an independent third-party certification program that helps educate land users, retailers and consumers about the importance of protecting healthy and functioning ecosystems and watersheds that are essential to Pacific salmon.

Salmon require clean, cool rivers to thrive and spawn. Poorly managed farms can have a major impact on water quality and habitat. For example, erosion and runoff can bring silt into the rivers, covering the spawning gravels where salmon eggs hatch, leaving them exposed and unprotected. Chemicals can wash into the waterways, causing damage to young fish. Excessive irrigation can deplete streams and rivers. The lack of vegetation along stream banks can increase stream temperature, resulting in the absence of habitat structures for salmon as well as other fish and wildlife.
 
Much of British Columbia’s agriculture land, which is the basis of B.C.’s food production, is located in valley bottoms. These agriculture lands surround the rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands, which are the foundations of many B.C.’s most valuable fish habitats. In addition to land pressures, there are also competing interests in water resources. Farmers and farmland have an important role in protecting and preserving fish and wildlife habitat.