The partner organization, Oceans Ltd, offers diagnostic services to detect and monitor the effects of environmental contaminants on marine ecosystems, mainly using fish as biomonitoring tools. The company wishes to seize an opportunity for capacity building and diversification by exploring new bioindicator technologies based on the effects of hydrocarbons on the reproduction of marine invertebrates. […]

Pacific herring, as forage fish, provide a vital ecosystem service within marine food webs, as well as economic benefits to BC’s commercial herring industry and cultural benefits to coastal Aboriginal communities. Building on innovative participatory research in Haida Gwaii, this project will identify the values of BC herring industry stakeholders and their preferences for management. […]

Pacific salmon are important from ecological, economic, social and cultural perspectives, but many species in the Salish Sea have seen drastic decrease in marine survival rate in recent decades, likely linked to reduced survival of the young stages of salmon due to a combination of environmental, food web changes, and human impacts. This activity will […]

Plankton food-webs are the primary support system for juvenile salmon, necessary for their growth, health, and ultimately survival at sea. Understanding how and why plankton food-webs respond to changing ocean conditions is one of the major goals of the Pacific Salmon Foundation, with the view to understanding fluctuations and declining trends of salmon stocks in […]

Predation on smolts as they out-migrate down natal rivers may significantly contribute to the decline and lack of recovery of Chinook salmon in British Columbia. A prior study of mortality of Chinook smolts released by the Cowichan Hatchery suggests only a small portion of the fish reached the ocean due to predation by raccoons, river […]

Pacific salmon are important from ecological, economic, social and cultural perspectives, but many species in the Salish Sea have seen drastic decrease in marine survival rate in recent decades, likely linked to reduced survival of the young stages of salmon due to a combination of environmental, food web changes, and human impacts. This activity will […]

The strong tidal currents that make in-stream tidal energy possible, are also challenging to work in since they are also very turbulent. As the flow passes over the rough bottom and shoreline variations, eddies are generated over a wide range of scales. These eddies (i.e. turbulence) create fluctuating forces on tidal turbine blades and their […]

The general objective of the proposed activity is to increase the future productivity of Burrard Inlet and the contribution of seafood to the diet of Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) members in support of the TWN Cumulative Effects Monitoring Initiative. The specific objectives are (1) to establish a pre-contact baseline food web and track the arc of […]

The Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry is becoming a strategic economic sector for Canada. Aquaculture in Canada employs approximately 25,000 people with a total economic impact of over $5B. While farmed salmon is already Canada’s top aquaculture export, salmon aquaculture has significant capacity for growth in this country. Atlantic salmon farmed in sea cages on the […]

With a rich acoustic dataset available in the Strait of Georgia (SoG), we propose this research to develop a series of acoustic indicators of productivity for forage (e.g. Pacific herring, mesopelagic fish, euphausiids, zooplankton and ichthyoplankton) and semi-demersal (e.g. Pacific hake and walleye pollock) species within the SoG by using robust multi-frequency techniques. Along with […]

With a rich acoustic dataset available in the Strait of Georgia (SoG), we propose this research to develop a series of acoustic indicators of productivity for forage (e.g. Pacific herring, mesopelagic fish, euphausiids, zooplankton and ichthyoplankton) and semi-demersal (e.g. Pacific hake and walleye pollock) species within the SoG by using robust multi-frequency techniques. Along with […]

The partner in this project is EWOS Canada, a producer of salmon feed. Salmon feed is made with sustainable and Canadian Food Inspection Agency approved ingredients. A major challenge in feed manufacturing is to support maximal growth and health of fish. This project addresses a health challenge which has received little attention in academic programs: […]