In North America, salmon populations are extremely important both economically and culturally. For many salmon species, habitats are separated in space and there is some dispersal between populations while salmon return from the ocean to spawn in lakes and rivers. These particular features are typical of metapopulation systems. However, the application of concepts developed in the metapopulation theory has been nearly inexistent so far. Focusing in more detail on metapopulation dynamics of salmon, we aim at improving salmon management and conservation measures.