Researchers Quantify Relationship Between Caspian Tern Predation Rates On Upper Columbia River Juvenile Steelhead And Returning Adult Fish
July 2nd, 2020
Caspian tern predation on steelhead smolts in the Columbia River has reduced the size of the juvenile migration by more than 20 percent each year also has reduced the number of adult steelhead that return to the river several years later.
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Research: Microplastic Pollution Heavily Concentrated In Coastal Habitats, Fjords, Estuaries
July 2nd, 2020
Microplastic pollution in marine environments is concentrated most highly in coastal habitats, especially fjords and estuaries, according to a new review article.
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Study Shows Reproductive Potential Of Chinook Salmon Reduced 24-35 Percent As Returning Fish Younger, Smaller
June 25th, 2020
Adult chinook salmon are returning from the ocean to rivers along North America’s West Coast at younger ages and smaller sizes (about 5 to 8 percent in the Yukon River) since the 1970s. The smaller size is resulting in a drop in reproductive potential for female salmon by 24 to 35 percent, based on total egg mass per female, according to a recent study.
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Research: Fish Exposed To Chemicals In Waterways Pass On Impacts To Future Generations
June 25th, 2020
Fish exposed to very low levels of chemicals commonly found in waterways can pass the impacts on to future generations that were never directly exposed to the chemicals, according to Oregon State University researchers.
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Vancouver Island Sea Otter Recovery; Study Shows Financial Benefits, Ecological Changes Benefitting Salmon
June 18th, 2020
Since their reintroduction to the Pacific coast in the 1970s, the sea otters' rapid recovery and voracious appetite for tasty shellfish such as urchins, clams and crabs has brought them into conflict with coastal communities and fishers, who rely on the same valuable fisheries for food and income.
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Wyoming Study Shows Impacts Of Climate Change On Migrating Deer; Alters ‘Green Wave’ Across Landscape
June 18th, 2020
When drought reshuffles the green-up of habitats that mule deer migrate across, it dramatically shortens the annual foraging bonanza they rely on.
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Study Looks At Nutritional Value Of Zooplankton For Juvenile Salmon Off BC Coast; Climate-Driven Changes Important Factor
June 12th, 2020
There is truth in the saying "you are what you eat"; even more so if you are a salmon or herring swimming off the British Columbia coast, a recent University of British Columbia study discovered.
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Southern Resident Killer Whales: NOAA Researchers Look At Genetic Influence Of Missing ‘Mega-Father,’ Risk Of Increased Inbreeding
June 4th, 2020
The Center for Whale Research reported in January 2020 that L41, also known as “Mega”, is missing from L-pod -- one of three family groups of the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales.
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Ocean Warming, Hatchery Fish Crowding In North Pacific Reducing British Columbia Sockeye Survival
May 29th, 2020
The northeast Pacific Ocean from the Fraser River to the Bering Sea is warming, but it is also becoming more crowded with hatchery pink and chum salmon produced in Alaska and Russia. The competition for food by hatchery pink salmon in a warming ocean has resulted in a 15 percent drop in survival of sockeye salmon returning to the Fraser River and other streams in British Columbia, according to a study released this week.