Pacific salmon are an important cultural, commercial, and biological resource for countries of the North Pacific rim. The geographic distribution of these salmon spans the North Pacific Ocean (NPO), where they occupy a variety of ecosystems and water masses throughout their ocean life history phase. There are significant gaps in our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate distribution, productivity/survival in coastal and high seas environments. These gaps hamper our ability to usefully inform management decisions related to fisheries and habitat across freshwater, coastal and high seas ecosystems. As a changing climate and associated anomalous events in the large marine ecosystems of the NPO progressively expose Pacific salmon to conditions that are outside the "normal" climate cycles, society will confront new resource management issues. These include the future of the cultures and subsistence lifestyles of local Indigenous communities, potential impacts of industrial activities (e.g., commercial fishing), potential changes to regional ocean carrying capacity, and resilience of North Pacific marine ecosystems. In addition, the growing threat of illegal, unreported, and unregulated high seas fishing and the recovery of salmon populations listed under the US Endangered Species Act and Canadian Species at Risk Act has increased the need for timely advice about salmon distribution. An international effort is required to detect and monitor changes in salmon and their ecosystem because stocks from all major salmon States of origin are distributed in the NPO. Salmon originate in producer nations rivers migrate through the exclusive economic zones of coastal states and intermingle in the high seas. In response to this need, the NPAFC, with partners and collaborating scientists in academia, NGOs and the private sector, is conducting an ambitious high seas research expedition with up to five research vessels surveying the full breadth of the NPO in late winter 2022. The expedition will test a collaborative research framework to better understand the mechanisms and processes that regulate the distribution and abundance of Pacific salmon and steelhead trout; to promote sustainable populations of anadromous populations in the NPO; to allow for better forecasts of salmon production trends in the future; and to enhance the sustainable fisheries management, food security, and economic security in salmon States. Our key methodological approach is to conduct an international survey of salmon and their ecosystems in the offshore regions of the NPO by deploying survey vessels at key times and areas to provide a seasonal picture of the distribution, migration and ecology of salmon in the high seas. This information will be connected to survey data (past and present) from NPAFC member countries conducting integrated ecosystem research within their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and previous international salmon research in the high seas. Together, these surveys provide a unique opportunity for research towards conservation and management of Pacific salmon. This effort builds on decades of high seas trawl surveys by the Russian Federation and other countries in the NPO and successful international research endeavors by the NPAFC and its precursor the International North Pacific Fisheries Commission (INPFC), such as the Bering Aleutian Salmon International Survey (BASIS; NPAFC Doc. 579 Rev 2). Two recent winter surveys to the Gulf of Alaska in 2019 and 2020, which were privately organized by Dr. Dick Beamish and Dr. Brian Riddell, form the proof of concept and provide baseline data comparable to this larger scale survey. The organization and operation of the first expedition was highly supported by the NPAFC Secretariat staff. The project is a Signature Project within the NPAFCs five-year International Year of the Salmon initiative (20182022), an effort dedicated to set the conditions supporting the resilience of salmon and people in a rapidly changing world.