Salmon Steward

otto steininger salmon Steward Newsletter Edition 5 Their work: A "mosquito fleet" of volunteers will begin working in 10 overlapping areas of interest in the Strait of Georgia in February 2015. The idea was conceived by Dr. Eddy Carmack, a retired and award-winning oceanographer with the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, B.C. Volunteers will be trained to collect oceanographic data such as temperature, salinity, oxygen levels, nutrients and more to assess annual variation in the environment of the Strait of Georgia. The beauty of this collaboration is that researchers can now measure these essential variables everywhere at once throughout the Canadian Salish Sea. Their impact: "In an era of over-taxed staff and shrinking budgets, there is a tremendous need for interested, committed and trained local citizens to help us understand what is happening in our ecosystems," says project coordinator Isobel Pearsall. "An intense program of data collection like the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project would be incredibly difficult to achieve without the support of these community volunteers. We have boats identified in Campbell River, Nanaimo, Cowichan Bay, Baynes Sound and Victoria and are in discussions with interested folks in Powell River, Irvine's Landing, Saltspring Island, Sechelt and Steveston." Their work: It is known that farmed salmon in B.C. suffer from the effects of harmful algal blooms but the impact of harmful blooms on wild salmon is unknown. Algae blooms occur naturally in marine waters, and for the most part are harmless. But some algae produce harmful toxins that cause shellfish poisoning and kill fish. Led by biologist Svetlana Esenkulova, a pilot study earlier this year observed three blooms in the Cowichan Bay estuary. Two blooms were harmless, and one was caused by a notorious fish-killing algae. During this bloom, the salmon appeared to be unusually lethargic, and mortality rates on Chinook salmon increased dramatically when handled. But it is still unknown if Chinook in the natural environment (i.e. not handled) suffered any mortality. Their impact: "Our work is important because it enables direct observations of the impacts of harmful blooms on local wild salmon and provides fish samples for definitive confirmation of the possible effects," says Esenkulova. "As our work continues in the Cowichan Bay and other areas over the next three years, we will get a more accurate picture of this issue's magnitude." Laboratory research will be teamed with genomic tools to determine the physiological stresses on juvenile salmon and to monitor the overall health of juveniles exposed to harmful algae species. n Inset photos: Cells of fish-killing algae Heterosigma akashiwo (above) and Pseudo-nitzschia spp (below). Right: Svetlana Esenkulova in her lab at Vancouver Island University. sTraiT oF georgia ciTiZen science Program organiZaTion: Pacific Salmon Foundation harmFul algal blooms organiZaTion: Pacific Salmon Foundation Small civilian fishing boats will be retrofitted to collect oceanographic data.

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