Tag Archives: Alaska

The Documentary ‘Salmon Secrets’ Comes to Cortes Island

French filmmaker Jérémy Mathieu’s award winning documentary ‘Salmon Secrets,’ will be coming to Gorge Hall at 1 PM on Sunday, January 12.    

This 40 minute film was produced by Clayoquot Action, whose co-founders Bonny Glambeck and Dan Lewis will be speaking at the screening. 

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The Pacific Herring Spawn and Nurseries Project

A citizen scientist project to photograph Pacific herring spawn along the West Coast, from Alaska down to California, has been underway for close to two months. It is based in the Comox-Courtenay area, and one of its many partners is the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI).

Project lead Jacqueline Huard, a scientist with Project Watershed,  explained, “I work with the Coastal Forage Fish Network. We are very community scientist based and working on a herring project in iNaturalist just was a natural fit for us. I wanted to encourage the folks that we work with to put their data somewhere where they could also access it. The goal is twofold, both to collect some data and address a gap, but also to get it out to the public and have a publicly available data set for the public created by community scientists.”

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New subpopulation of Deep Ocean Orcas Identified

A new subpopulation of Orcas has been identified in the open ocean off the coasts of Oregon and California. UBC researchers have identified 49 individual killer whales in photographs taken between 1997 and 2021. 

According to Josh McInnes, a masters student in the UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and lead author of a new paper in Aquatic Animals, they may also be off the coast of British Columbia.

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Baby sockeye salmon are growing faster due to climate change. Is bigger better?

Editor’s note: Most of the salmon on Cortes Island are Chum, not Sockeye, but a DFO study of scale growth measurements from the Big Qualicum River suggests Chum are also being affected by climate change. Chum salmon appear to be growing smaller ‘due to increased ocean temperatures driven by climate changeand also the increased competition over a diminishing number of prey. There are also reports of them relocating to more northern locations. In October 2023, a University of Alaska study revealed that 100 Chum had been found in waters emptying into the Arctic Ocean. They were ‘either actively spawning or had finished spawning.’ Lead author Peter Wesley wrote, “Throughout most parts of the salmon’s range, things have gotten too warm and they’re starting to blink off. In the Arctic, the water is getting warm enough and they’re starting to blink on.”

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Climate change has tipped the scales, causing juvenile sockeye salmon in B.C. to grow bigger over the past century. 

The growth of salmon using lakes as nurseries during the first years of life in northern B.C. is about 35 per cent higher than 100 years ago, a new study from Simon Fraser University shows. 

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How will cruises impact Prince Rupert’s future?

Editors Note: There were once plans for a cruise ship terminal in Campbell River. The facility was built just before the recession of 2008, at which point the cruise ship companies opted to stick with their tried and tested routes, as well as older terminals like Vancouver and Victoria. Never-the-less, cruise ships continue to pass between Campbell River and Quadra Island. They are also visible from Smelt Bay and parts of Mansons Landing in Southern Cortes Island.

By Seth Forward, Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Cruise ships bring cash, and lots of it. For a city such as Prince Rupert facing a huge infrastructure deficit, funnelling thousands of potential customers into the small coastal town could be the boost it desperately needs to get back on its feet.

But catering to the international cruise market comes with plenty of baggage.

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