New report reveals impact of log storage on salmon
PSF joined Cowichan Tribes and British Columbia Conservation Foundation in highlighting the negative impact log booming has had in the Cowichan estuary on Vancouver Island. Their report, ‘Understanding the Impact of Anthropogenic and Environmental Conditions and Adult Chinook Terminal Survival’, supported by PSF, has shown that the presence of log booms reduces salmon survival.
Logs scour the seafloor damaging nearshore ecosystems, provide artificial ambush spots for seals who hunt salmon, and cause beach pollution that threatens spawning habitat for fish that salmon eat.
Learn more about log booms and salmon.
Pacific salmon are famous for incredible migrations back to their home rivers, but they spend most of their adult lives in the ocean.
Beginning in the 1970s, Pacific salmon’s marine survival rates — the number of fish that survive the migration from river to ocean and return as adults – mysteriously and sharply declined. Efforts to reduce harvest, restore habitat, and improve hatchery practices in the decades since have not led to recovery.
Tasked with explaining this catastrophic drop-off in abundance, PSF completed a five-year transboundary project called the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project in 2020, which identified several urgent areas of research and action to advance Pacific salmon recovery. This led to PSF launching the Marine Science Program, which continues to advance knowledge of Pacific salmon by addressing the findings from the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project.
With climate change and human-made issues putting even more pressure on Pacific salmon, PSF’s Marine Science Program is uniquely positioned to carry out independent and science-based oceanic research to inform experts, government, and the public.
Together, we can all work towards creating a prosperous future for Pacific salmon.