Click here to go to our animator to see the freshwater and early marine migration of wild juvenile Sockeye salmon migrating from Chilko Lake B.C. in 2017. We tracked their movements with an acoustic-telemetry array in order to find mortality hotspots and to understand migration behaviours. After entering the ocean, the fish turned north and migrated through the inside passage between Vancouver Island and the Mainland B.C. In the Discovery Islands area of the Inside Passage, there is considerable debate about the role of open-net-pen Atlantic Salmon farms in the decline of wild Salmon stocks. We deployed a purpose-built array of acoustic receivers in this region to obtain the first individual-level data on route use, migration timing, and potential exposures to these farms. You can zoom the animation to get a closer look at the Discovery Islands. Our publication which presents the results of this aspect of the project (Rechisky EL, Porter AD, Winchell PM, Johnston SD, Stevenson CF, Hinch SG, Hunt BPV, and Welch DW (2021) Exposure time of wild, juvenile sockeye salmon to open-net-pen Atlantic Salmon farms in British Columbia, Canada. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. doi: 10.1002/nafm.10574) is available by request from us or from the journal as full or limited shared access.
The BC Hydro diversion dam on the Salmon River, Vancouver Island, poses a physical barrier to adult salmon migrating up the river. In 2008, Kintama receivers indicated that less than 7% of adult coho might travel up through the fishway near the dam.
