Field Work Friday
It’s #FieldWorkFriday
This week kicked off with an incredible 618 Dungeness megalopae and one juvenile instar in our light trap. The instars are tiny little replicas of the adult crabs. Over 62,500 Dungeness megalopae have been caught so far in our network. So far this year, six traps have exceeded the previous year’s catches, including ours!
We continued to observe juvenile chinook, coho, pink, and chum salmon in our surveys. As part of this monitoring, we not only record species of salmon, but also take length measurements and health assessments, which include tracking sea lice. This week, we were extremely lucky to have researchers from the University of Toronto train us in lice identification. Check out the gravid female Lepeophtheirus salmonis on the pink salmon. This species of louse is specific to salmonids.
On Tuesday, we had a fabulous day learning with West Sechelt’s Grade One class about water quality, wetland health, and the plants and animals that rely on the wetland. We tested water quality using Water Ranger Kits and determined that our wetland is healthy. Thank you to the students, teachers, parents, and grandparents who came to learn as well as to EcoAction Canada and the Sunshine Coast Foundation for supporting our work.
Our European green crab surveys continued with deployment of traps yesterday. Stay tuned next week to see what we find in them.
With it being Oceans week, there are lots of events happening. Join us tonight at the PODS Showroom for a very special World Ocean Week screening of Nature Girl, a joyful and quietly powerful film created by filmmaker Trent Maynard in collaboration with shíshálh Nation cultural educator and knowledge keeper xets'emits'a, Candace Campo. The film starts at 8:30 pm and admission is free. Make sure to reserve your spot.
Sunday, Oceans Week wraps up with the Sunshine Coast Ocean Festival at Mission Point Park in Davis Bay. We hope to see you there.
Want to get involved? Please check out our events calendar or contact Jenn at jenn@loonfoundation.org
