Salish Sea Marine Survival Project researchers reviewed examples of migratory prey inducing large-scale predator movements and developed a framework for interactions created by these movement dynamics. This review paper integrates landscape, movement, food web, and community ecology and provides researchers with a better understanding of predator-prey dynamics.

Salish Sea Marine Survival Project researchers analyzed scat samples to determine sex-specific diet patterns in harbor seals from Comox and Cowichan Bay in Canada. They found that female seals tended to consume high proportions of demersal fish species while male seals ate more salmonid species. Read more: Schwarz et al. (2018) Large-scale molecular diet analysis in… Read more »

Salish Sea Marine Survival Project researchers assembled all available recent and historical data on northern anchovy observations and abundance in the Salish Sea to explore the apparent recent increase in Salish Sea anchovy abundance and discuss potential impacts to the Salish Sea food web. Researchers found that warmer ocean temperatures were associated with higher anchovy… Read more »

 Salish Sea Marine Survival Project researchers investigated treatment methods to kill waterborne Nanophyetus salmincola parasites. Diluted formalin was most effective at killing parasites, with 100% mortality within 30 minutes; high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and seawater produced 80%+ mortality in 10 minutes to an hour. These treatment methods provide useful options to prevent parasite infections in salmon… Read more »

Salish Sea Marine Survival Project researchers investigated environmental and biological factors impacting age-0 Pacific herring. These small fish are important competitors and prey for Salish Sea salmon species during their first marine year; examining herring dynamics can lead to better understanding of how herring population fluctuations affect salmon growth and survival. Researchers found that environmental… Read more »

Salish Sea Marine Survival Project researchers studied outmigrating steelhead smolts from the Skagit, Snohomish, Green/Duwamish, and Nisqually rivers and associated marine habitats in Puget Sound. They found high levels of a parasite called Nanophyetus salmincola in steelhead from the Green/Duwamish and Nisqually watersheds. This parasite burrows through the skin of the fish and forms cysts in… Read more »

Salish Sea Marine Survival Project researchers compared an array of growth rate indices in current use for measuring salmon growth by testing each index on laboratory-held fish with known growth rates. They found that plasma insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) concentration was strongly correlated with juvenile chinook salmon growth rate, while muscle RNA:DNA ratio and… Read more »

Salish Sea Marine Survival Project researchers examined how juvenile chum and chinook salmon use eelgrass beds in the Comox estuary, British Columbia. They found that eelgrass habitat provided food resources for juvenile chum and chinook salmon. Juvenile chinook salmon fed on invertebrate prey associated with eelgrass habitat and planktonic prey not associated with eelgrass. Juvenile… Read more »

 Salish Sea Marine Survival Project researchers inserted acoustic tracking tags in age-2 sockeye salmon from Chilko Lake, BC in 2010-2014. About 8-14% of salmon survived their 35-47 day migration to north-eastern Vancouver Island. High mortality was observed north of the Central Strait of Georgia. Read more: Rechisky et al. (2018) Quantifying survival of age two Chilko… Read more »

 Salish Sea Marine Survival Project researchers inserted acoustic tracking tags in steelhead to assess their outmigration success through the Strait of Georgia to the Pacific Ocean. They also took non-lethal gill biopsies from each fish prior to outmigration. Their analyses revealed that gene expression profiles related to outmigrating smolt mortality: differential elevation of gene expression… Read more »