swimmingwiththefishes
Member
Taken from https://www.psf.ca/sites/default/files/FINAL - Email version PSF_Salish_Sea_Project_2016_Report_.pdf
40% is a huge number...
Key Findings 2016
• An outbreak of Heart and Skeletal Muscle
Inflammation (or HSMI) was found in fish from one
Atlantic salmon fish farm. This was the first time
HSMI was diagnosed in British Columbia.
• Results from juvenile salmon predation studies
included:
• initial estimates that Harbour seals in the Strait
of Georgia are consuming up to 40 per cent of
juvenile Chinook and 47 per cent of juvenile
Coho;
• in Cowichan Bay and the Big Qualicum River
estuary, Harbour seals are:
• showing different feeding strategies in the
estuary compared to further afield; and;
• consuming different kinds of salmon during
the year, with more juvenile Chum eaten in
the fall and more juvenile Chinook and Coho
in the spring.
• Tracking of “tagged” Cowichan hatchery
Chinook showed that their survival in-river may
be significantly impacted by predators such
as other fish, mergansers, otters, and even
raccoons.
• The survival of Cowichan hatchery fry increased
when they were released at locations further
downstream from the hatchery, which could inform
future hatchery release strategies.
• Our Citizen Science oceanography project allowed
nine vessels to be out on the Salish Sea for 22
days, with all of the Strait of Georgia sampled each
day. They undertook 1,369 sampling events, which
resulted in more than 8,000 samples for analysis.
40% is a huge number...
Key Findings 2016
• An outbreak of Heart and Skeletal Muscle
Inflammation (or HSMI) was found in fish from one
Atlantic salmon fish farm. This was the first time
HSMI was diagnosed in British Columbia.
• Results from juvenile salmon predation studies
included:
• initial estimates that Harbour seals in the Strait
of Georgia are consuming up to 40 per cent of
juvenile Chinook and 47 per cent of juvenile
Coho;
• in Cowichan Bay and the Big Qualicum River
estuary, Harbour seals are:
• showing different feeding strategies in the
estuary compared to further afield; and;
• consuming different kinds of salmon during
the year, with more juvenile Chum eaten in
the fall and more juvenile Chinook and Coho
in the spring.
• Tracking of “tagged” Cowichan hatchery
Chinook showed that their survival in-river may
be significantly impacted by predators such
as other fish, mergansers, otters, and even
raccoons.
• The survival of Cowichan hatchery fry increased
when they were released at locations further
downstream from the hatchery, which could inform
future hatchery release strategies.
• Our Citizen Science oceanography project allowed
nine vessels to be out on the Salish Sea for 22
days, with all of the Strait of Georgia sampled each
day. They undertook 1,369 sampling events, which
resulted in more than 8,000 samples for analysis.
