Juvenile Salmon Program Field Sampling Protocol

The Hakai Institute Juvenile Salmon program is an ongoing initiative that was established in 2015 in partnership with the University of British Columbia, University of Toronto, Simon Fraser University and Salmon Coast Field Station. This program researches the early life history of juvenile salmon in coastal British Columbia. Primary research objectives are determining: 1) Migration timing rates and routes; 2) Migration habitat, including physical and chemical oceanographic conditions, and availability of plankton prey; 3) The impacts of prey phenology, quantity and quality on juvenile salmon growth and condition; 4) Species and stock-specific feeding biology and competitive interactions; 5) Pathogen and parasite infection dynamics; and 6) Mortality estimates. The program targets Fraser River sockeye, and pink and chum salmon, but additionally provides information on coho, chinook, and herring through incidental capture. The field program operates between May and July during the peak of the juvenile sockeye outward migration. Purse seine and oceanographic sampling are conducted in the northern Strait of Georgia / Discovery Islands region (~ 220 km from the Fraser River mouth) and the Johnstone Strait / Queen Charlotte Strait region (~ 180 km from the northern Strait of Georgia. As such, this program informs early life history across two critical legs of the Fraser salmon northward migration. This protocol documents the standard procedures that are conducted during field operations. It is intended as a reference to foster consistency of practice between field crews and across sampling years, and also as a training aid for new and returning staff