Salmon Steward

Summer students conduct purse seining to determine when and where juvenile salmon are in the Cowichan estuary and bay. salmon Steward Newsletter Edition 5 the breadth of work, the project requires many scientists and volunteers. "My role as overall project coordinator includes working with all of the participants," adds Pearsall. "For the Cowichan study, this includes Department of Fisheries and Oceans scientists; academics at the Universities of British Columbia and Victoria; the BC Conservation Foundation; the Cowichan First Nation; Cowichan Hatchery sta ; summer students; various consultants; chartered and DFO vessel operators; and many volunteers in the Cowichan area." STARTING AT THE BOTTOM One of the approaches being taken in the study is called "bottom up," studying the production of what salmon eat. Leading that e ort is Dr. Eddy Carmack, a retired climate research scientist from the Institute of Ocean Studies. "I look at how the mixing and circulation of ocean currents impacts the base of the salmon food chain," says Dr. Carmack. "We have a number of hypotheses that we are testing to try and determine what the impacts are on salmon." Dr. Carmack will also work closely with other scientists, something which he believes is unique in this kind of undertaking and will be critical to the Salish Sea initiative's overall success. "It's the fi rst time in my experience that oceanographers and fi sheries biologists are working side by side, putting aside their own agendas in favour of a common cause — that of salmon!" STARTING AT THE TOP The opposite — but equally important — research approach is to look at what preys on salmon (the "top down" view). Many fi sh are thought to play a role, and Dick Beamish is keeping an eye on all of them. Beamish and local fi sher Barry Crow will use gillnets to identify fi shes that may be feeding on juvenile salmon in the bay. "I've been using my boat to set gillnets overnight in Cowichan Bay," explains Dr. Beamish. "The nets have six di erent mesh sizes and are dropped thirty feet deep, so they should be able to catch just about anything that could prey on salmon." The results collected to date are already proving to be quite illuminating. "Amazingly, we are not catching much of anything!" Beamish exclaims. "I am going to take the same approach further out in the Deep Bay and Bowser area, but if the results are the same, it really will cause us to challenge our views on the role of sea-based predation on salmon survival." THE BIGGER PICTURE Work in the Cowichan area will continue over the next three years. But as new information — both regarding salmon and the way they are studied — is discovered, it will quickly be applied to other areas and parts of the Salish Sea initiative. "What is learned in this study is intended to provide the foundation for similar studies in multiple watersheds around the Strait of Georgia," concludes Dr. Pearsall. "Each location will have specifi c attributes and di erences that we will have to address, but the Cowichan study will provide our building blocks." ■ Dr. Dick Beamish uses gillnets to sample for possible sh predators with Joy Wade of Fundy Aqua Services.

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