The Sunshine Coast is one of the study areas for a citizen science program that’s part of the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s ongoing Salish Sea Marine Survival Project.
Between February and October, volunteers used a “mosquito fleet” of their own fishing vessels to do surveys in nine overlapping areas – Sechelt, Powell River, Lund, Campbell River, Baynes Sound, Qualicum, Cowichan Bay, Victoria and Steveston.
Ed Oldfield, who operates out of Powell River, is one of the volunteers taking part in the project, which is working to understand the causes of declines in coho and chinook salmon in the Strait of Georgia.
“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,” Oldfield said. “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.”
In one day, the citizen scientists collect data from more than 100 sites throughout the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca, using state of the art scientific equipment to gather important oceanographic data.
The volunteers measure for salinity and temperature, fluorescence (an indicator of plankton productivity and algal growth) and oxygen content (which helps trace the movement and flushing of water).
That information is then uploaded using the Community Fishers smart phone app to an oceanographic data management system at the University of Victoria.
Four other elements of the work are done by hand to assess water quality. Water samples are taken for nutrient analysis, phytoplankton and zooplankton samples are collected, and turbidity is measured. Nutrients can be limiting factors in plankton growth, while low turbidity is an indicator of healthy water. Plankton is analyzed for occurrence of harmful algae blooms, as well as the nature of the base of the food chain for salmon.
“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,” Oldfield said. “This should provide a baseline of data and some science behind the management and preservation of this complex ecosystem.”
The citizen science program is a partnership between the Pacific Salmon Foundation, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Ocean Networks Canada.
