The Journey of a Salmon from Vancouver Island

A local fisher on Haida Gwaii recently caught a tagged Chinook Salmon that was part of a research project that aimed to monitor and track juvenile salmon migration around Vancouver Island. This was the first of 329 tagged salmon to be returned after being tagged in January 2023 near Comox. The salmon travelled up the east coast of Vancouver Island and was last detected at Port Hardy before being caught in Haida waters.

This research is part of the Bottlenecks to Survival Project, co-led by the Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) and BC Conservation Foundation, and led by PhD student Wesley Greentree, at UVic. It’s funded by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the Province of BC through the BC Salmon Restoration Innovation Fund. LGL Ltd. and DFO provided additional field work support.

When processing your salmon be sure to check for tags as it greatly helps the research of the project. The tags are located in the body cavity, in front of the pelvic fins and just below the stomach. In addition to the large acoustic tag, there is also a smaller PIT tag (a bit larger than a grain of rice) that is used to detect the salmon if it returns to freshwater.

Looking at the animation of the salmon migrations you’ll notice the red dot amongst the blue dots, this is the salmon that was caught on Haida Gwaii. The last we see of it in the animation is near port hardy due to the salmon migrating away from where it could be tracked.

Want to learn more? Check out: https://www.survivalbottlenecks.ca/

Or watch: https://youtu.be/0AlQNyMOgcY?si=DO4jFnF8kuwwmjju, https://youtu.be/TiMXutP6wSM?si=lDKSloQ3icjn4SFG&t=114