Urban Salmon is a short documentary by photographer Fernando Lessa about the return of wild salmon to urban Vancouver waterways.
150 years ago there were at least 50 salmon-bearing streams in the area that is now Vancouver. Over the years, many of these streams disappeared, and wild salmon were almost extinguished from the cityscape. Thanks to the passion and dedication of stream keepers in the Metro Vancouver area, urban streams are being restored and wild salmon are returning to our backyards.
Fernando Lessa is a Brazilian-born photographer based in North Vancouver. Best known for his conservation and ecology photography, Lessa has documented wildlife around British Columbia and beyond. He first began documenting urban salmon in 2016.