Juvenile Salmon & Sea Lice Monitoring
Since 2017, we have been monitoring juvenile salmon in Clayoquot Sound to assess their external health, sea lice loads, as well as the overall abundance as they migrate through the marine corridors of our region. Sea lice are known to significantly decrease the marine survival of juvenile salmon since these small fish do not yet have the immune system or size to withstand sea lice infestations. 2018 was one of the largest recorded outbreaks of sea lice in Clayoquot Sound. Each year we are expanding our juvenile salmon monitoring and collaborating with other community organization to assess the health of the juvenile salmon migrating through Clayoquot Sound. Visit our Archives page to learn more from our past reports, or check out our Story Map – an interactive online learning tool.
Counting Chum Salmon with Drones
As of August 2020, we started a brand new research project: testing the efficacy of remotely piloted aircraft systems (drones) to enumerate Chum Salmon while they spawn in-river. Chum Salmon are ecologically, commercially and socially important but do not receive the same attention as other pacific salmon species. This means many Chum Salmon runs go either uncounted or are only counted during the peak spawn of target species, like Chinook or Sockeye Salmon. Due to past funding restrictions less salmon rivers are counted than ever before, leaving gaps in our understanding of salmon populations. Are the salmon runs doing well this year? Are they being impacted by a specific threat? If we do not have the basic information of how many salmon are returning each year we cannot further assess how they are doing. We are looking at the potential for drones to offer an efficient, cost effective and data rich way to count Chum Salmon.
Salmon Population Analysis
Salmon populations in Clayoquot Sound are at, or near historically low levels. We are having very few adults returning to spawn each year with hatchery fish making up a large component of the returning populations. We are currently developing river level population assessments for salmon in Clayoquot Sound and the entire West Coast of Vancouver Island, so that we can see how each population has changed over time. We can assign a status based on each salmon population’s current health and its productivity, or ability to rebound, even if abundance is low. This analysis is based on salmon stream counting, fishery and hatchery data and so is greatly impacted by the availability of good data.
Sea Star Wasting Disease with Strawberry Isle Marine Research Society
We participate and support Strawberry Isle Marine Research Society (SIMRS) in their efforts to monitor Sunflower (Pycnopodia helianthoides) & Ochre (Pisaster ochraceus) stars in our coastal waters. In recent years, Sunflower Stars were listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation in Nature) as their global population has not recovered after Sea Star Wasting Disease moved through their entire range beginning in 2013. Any visible Sea Stars are measured and checked for signs of wasting disease. Data collected by organizations in Clayoquot Sound contributes to Sea Star Wasting Disease research compiled at the University of California Santa Cruz, USA. It is highly important that we monitor this population as further loss of this marine predator could lead to major ecosystem changes.
Juvenile Chinook Early Marine Survival
Chinook Salmon in Clayoquot Sound are on life support, with only around 500 adults returning to spawn in 2020. We know very little about Chinook Salmon once they leave the rivers and first enter the ocean. Early marine survival has recently been highlighted as a critical component for population growth in other salmon stocks. In 2020 we started a multilateral and community driven effort to understand how juvenile Chinook Salmon are using Clayoquot Sound and how they are being impacted while they are here.
The project focuses specifically on Chinook Salmon in their first year at sea. By catching and taking a small tissue sample from these juvenile fish, we hope to learn about juvenile Chinook abundance, spatial and temporal distribution, stress and disease profiles, and genetic stock. The data can help us investigate how size, condition, pathogen or parasite load, and environmental conditions may relate to growth and survival.
Kelp Monitoring in Clayoquot Sound
This brand new project will use established kelp monitoring methods developed by the Marine Plan Partnership for the North Pacific Coast (MaPP) to assess kelp bed coverage and density. Through the late spring until the early fall, we will be conducting kelp surveys in the areas surrounding Vargas and Flores Island. From the late summer to early fall, we will be conducting experiments on the regrowth of kelp using different harvest methods. Collecting data on kelp growth and distribution is the initial step towards the intention of developing a long term kelp monitoring program in Clayoquot Sound.
Hakai Integrated Coastal Observatory (ICO)
Cedar Coast contributes environmental DNA samples to the Integrated Coastal Observatory (ICO) program at the Hakai Institute. As animals live, they are constantly sloughing off small bits of tissue containing their DNA. Each species has unique sections of DNA that can be used like a barcode to identify them. If we collect these tissue samples from the water column it is considered environmental DNA. The ICO program focuses on collecting water samples so we can identify each species that is living in the surrounding waters.
Coastal Wolves Monitoring
In 2017, we set up the first wildlife camera on our property. Our intention was to learn more about the wolf population inhabiting the island without causing discomfort or confrontation. Keeping an eye on the local wolf population has since turned into a larger, more collaboative project with Parks Canada, BC Parks, The Nature Conservancy of Canada, Maaqutusiis Hahoulthee Stewardship Society, and the Wildlife Restoration Ecology Lab (University of Northern British Columbia) to try and understand how the Vargas wolves connect with those throughout the rest of Clayoquot Sound. To learn more about the wolf monitoring taking place in Clayoquot Sound, visit Parks Canada’s “Wild About Wolves” Research Project website.
Oceanographic Monitoring & Research
In summer 2021, Cedar Coast added oceanographic research to the existing suite of in-house monitoring programs. Despite the cultural and ecological importance of Clayoquot Sound, local oceanographic processes and controls on important water properties—oxygen content, temperature, salinity, nutrients, etc.—are under-studied. Oceanic oxygen is decreasing globally, and coastal systems experience the greatest decreases in oxygen inventory. At present, we are collaborating with researchers and technicians from the Hakai Institute, the Institute of Ocean Sciences, the University of Washington-Tacoma, Nature’s Trust, Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council – Ahousaht Fisheries, and Uu-a-thluk Fisheries to study subsurface oxygen dynamics in Herbert Inlet, a coastal fjord on Vancouver Island northwest of Vargas in Clayoquot Sound. With this work, we hope to better understand the vulnerability of Herbert Inlet to large-scale climate changes and investigate additional explanations for wild salmon declines in Clayoquot.