Salmon Steward

4 fall/winter 2016 psf.ca THE PROJECT: Algal blooms are dense collections of plants that form the "base" of the marine food web. Most are harmless, but there are a few species that pose a danger to marine life, as well as people. Every year "harmful algal blooms" cause multimillion- dollar losses to the salmon and shellfish aquaculture industries on the West Coast of Canada and the United States. The Salish Sea Marine Survival Project is the first initiative to investigate the impacts of these naturally occurring blooms on wild salmon. Phytoplankton specialist Svetlana Esenkulova partnered with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Pacific Salmon Foundation and Ocean Networks Canada to study bloom dynamics and their effects on salmon in the Strait of Georgia. Esenkulova has been working with volunteers from the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project's Citizen Science Program to shed some light on the blooms. LESSONS LEARNED: "The Citizen Science Program enabled us to collect and analyze thousands of samples over the last three years, which produced an unprecedented amount of data," says Esenkulova. "We observed harmful blooms that caused physical damage to salmon by clogging their gills and damaging gill tissue. We also witnessed lethargic behaviour and increased salmon mortality during toxic blooms. Another major and surprising discovery was that even during non-harmful blooms, fish appeared to change their behaviour: their distributions in the water column were different and they ate significantly less. All these findings emphasize how important it is to continue studying blooms and connect the knowledge with fish studies." She adds: "Engaging volunteer citizen scientists has been extremely cost- effective while [also] producing unique and valuable information over larger scales of time and geography. I hope it will become part of routine government monitoring one day." Harmful Algae: Doom in Bloom Svetlana Esenkulova studies blooms in the field. Below: Esenkulova and her research team investigate a toxic bloom in Cowichan Bay. Inset: A microscopic view of unhealthy fish gills that have been clogged with a harmful algae bloom, preventing gasses like oxygen from passing through.

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