Photo: Pacific Salmon Foundation
An Armstrong artist has landed the top prize in the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s annual Salmon Conservation Stamp Art competition.
Dale Cooper had his work selected out of 19 entries and was awarded first place for an acrylic painting titled Pursuit.
The painting shows a pair of Chinook salmon pursuing a school of herring and will be featured on the 2024-25 Salmon Conservation Stamp, a required purchase for anglers to retain any Pacific salmon caught in B.C.’s marine environment.
Proceeds from stamp sales fund numerous salmon conservation projects every year.
Cooper, a veteran sports illustrator and fine artist, is a first-time winner of the competition.
He has taken part in the competition several times, with his first salmon painting earning him third place in 1998.
“Outside of sports, I’ve always painted B.C. wildlife, and I’ve painted a lot of salmon,” Cooper said. “I’m very pleased to finally win this year — and right before the holidays, too.”
The artist credits his memories of working at a salmon cannery in Steveston, fishing trips and salmon runs in the Adams River as inspiration.
“With this painting, I wanted to do something that was really relevant to their environment,” he said. “Kelp just seemed to fit, and chasing the herring is part of what salmon do. I wanted the salmon to look healthy.”
The Salmon Conservation Stamp is a decal that must be purchased annually by anglers and affixed to their saltwater fishing license to retain any species of Pacific salmon.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of recreational anglers support Pacific salmon conservation by purchasing the $6.46 Salmon Stamp. Through a landmark agreement in 1989, the revenue from these stamps is directed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to the Foundation.
PSF grants up to $2 million annually to more than 200 community-led projects. Since 1989, PSF directed $22.4M of the Salmon Stamp’s revenue to 3,187 unique salmon projects across British Columbia with a total value of nearly $190 million.
