Salmon Steward

salmon Steward magazine 5 Foundation CEO Brian Riddell holds the tiny spoons used to "micro-troll" for juvenile salmon. A raku pottery sculpture donated by Ed Oldeld to the Foundation's 2015 Vancouver Gala. Tiny Gear for Tiny Salmon NEW RESEARCH METHODS TO FACILITATE CITIZEN SCIENCE Ed uses the downrigger to lower a uorometer, which measures chlorophyll content. Chlorophyll is indicative of phytoplankton, the base of the marine food chain. Will Duguid and research assistant Amanda Noel examine the stomach contents of salmon. POWELL RIVER ED OLDFIELD Retired schoolteacher Full-time artist A recently retired schoolteacher, who now works full time as an artist specializing in wall murals with a West Coast marine theme, Ed is already a donor for the Pacific Salmon Foundation. He often donates his unique raku sculptures to Pacific Salmon Foundation fundraising dinners, which generally fetch upwards of a thousand dollars at live auctions. He has also served on the Foundation's Art Stamp Committee to choose the winning image for the Salmon Conservation Stamp. Ed's hobbies include fishing, gardening and stonework. The Strait of Georgia captured his imagination when he first saw it after his family moved from Ontario to Duncan in 1967. Oldfield lives and works on the shores of the Strait of Georgia in Powell River. "Over the years I have witnessed the decline of salmon stocks in the Strait of Georgia to the point where I no longer fish salmon on the inside," he says. "It baffles me that 20 years after the sudden and unexpected disappearance of Coho salmon in the early 1990s and a steady decline in the numbers of Chinook salmon, there appears to be little scientific explanation." Adds Ed: "Technology has reached a point where pleasure boats can be equipped with compact scientific gear capable of collecting a vast array of data over the entire Salish Sea in a single day. This should provide a baseline of data and some science behind the management and preservation of this complex ecosystem. This project is an important step in understanding what is happening in the Salish Sea and with a better understanding we will be more likely to make good decisions related to the management, protection and restoration of our marine environment." n Fishing lore is awash with tales of epic battles with monster Chinook. This year, the Pacic Salmon Foundation had researchers trolling the waters for baby Chinook using miniature recreational shing gear. The project was part of a new method coined "micro-trolling" by its developers Will Duguid and Kevin Pellett. It's being used to test key hypotheses about how juvenile salmon are using their early marine environment and where and when they may be dying. Kevin explains: "Salmon biologists believe the mortality rate of juvenile salmon is very high for the rst few months at sea during the early marine period, and then declines as salmon grow. Micro-trolling and applying tags to juvenile salmon at specic times/places allows us to test this." Kevin is a sheries biologist with the BC Conservation Foundation. "A decrease in the number of individual salmon surviving this period could be responsible for Chinook and Coho salmon declines in the Salish Sea. The challenge lies in determining if and when this critical mortality is occurring and what mechanisms are driving it." Will is a University of Victoria doctoral student who is using the new method to study how juvenile salmon are using their ocean environment. Traditional methods of study use large vessels which cost thousands of dollars per day and are limited in their ability to access constricted and high-current areas. Micro-trolling uses small boats and economical equipment that reduces costs and enables sampling in very specic areas. "With micro-trolling we can afford to sample much more frequently," says Will. "Providing a more complete picture of where juvenile salmon are going, how deep they are swimming, what they are eating and how they are growing over the course of the summer," he says. The new method has the potential to enable stakeholders with limited resources, including First Nations and community groups, to expand their role as stewards of our sheries resources. "Historically sheries research has involved large costs and big equipment. But with decreasing government funding, it's becoming more important to facilitate entry points for community groups to take over and continue the work," says Will.

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