By Ian Holmes

First-of-its-kind expedition unlocks mysteries of west coast salmon

Mar 20, 2019 | 2:55 PM

NANAIMO — A renowned DFO scientist praised an inaugural Pacific Ocean study as a surefire way to strengthen west coast salmon stocks.

Dr. Richard Beamish, who is now retired, told reporters in Nanaimo the first Gulf of Alaska research mission uncovered more than 54 million salmon during the month-long expedition.

The Nanaimo-based Beamish said the winter survey of the vast body of water comprised of Asian and North American stocks will help regulate salmon production.

“If you know what the mechanisms are you then can estimate how a warming of the ocean or changing of the ocean is going to affect production in the future,” Beamish said.

The research mission wrapped up Wednesday in Nanaimo. It included scientists from Canada, the United States, South Korea, Russia and Japan.

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Beamish, who raised $1.3 million from a variety of sources to help make the voyage possible, said DNA samples revealed where the various salmon species originated from.

“We are now on the right track to make the discoveries that we need to be effective stewards in our future of changing ocean ecosystems.”

Beamish said intensive deep sea west coast salmon studies complements nearshore research Canada has seen since the early 1990s.

DFO research biologist Chrys Neville was aboard the Russian research vessel Kaganovsky, which docked at the Nanaimo Cruise Ship Terminal early Wednesday.

She and other researchers were surprised to see 15-million coho counted during their deep sea voyage, but equally surprised to see few pink salmon.

“We expected to catch a few coho, but these are generally considered to be a species that reside closer to the shelf (shore). They were out there in the mid-Pacific. We found very few pink salmon, we still are not sure why.”

Neville said it was expected pinks would make up a large chunk of their catch.

She said new DNA technology to examine salmon tissue samples allows the DFO to pinpoint their health.

“One of the hypotheses I’m looking at is that salmon have to grow a certain amount in that first marine year if they’re going to survive the winter when they get into the Gulf of Alaska, because there’s less food potentially out there then there is in the summer months,” Neville said.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes