Forage Fish Spawning Habitat Monitoring

MABRRI’s forage fish research began in 2017, when Phillip Dionne—a research scientist from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife—visited Nanaimo to train the MABRRI team in sampling methods for forage fish eggs, with a focus on Pacific sand lance and surf smelt. Sampling officially began in December 2017 within the Parksville-Qualicum Beach Wildlife Management Area. By mid-2018, MABRRI expanded the project by hosting training sessions for local community stewardship groups, building capacity and greatly increasing the project’s geographical scope through community involvement.

Forage fish—such as Pacific sand lance, surf smelt, herring, capelin, and anchovy—are small, schooling species that play a critical role in marine ecosystems. Rather than being classified taxonomically, these species are grouped based on their ecological function: acting as a vital link in the marine food web, transferring energy from lower to higher trophic levels. Pacific sand lance and surf smelt, MABRRI’s primary focus, spawn in the upper intertidal zone on sandy to gravel beaches, making their habitats especially vulnerable to environmental change and coastal development.

Community engagement is central to the success of MABRRI’s forage fish project. Volunteers sample local beaches, process sediment, and submit samples to MABRRI for egg identification and analysis. Thanks to this support, the project has expanded its monitoring efforts and successfully identified multiple beaches with positive detections of Pacific sand lance eggs. Sampling is conducted year-round to align with spawning seasons—Pacific sand lance typically spawn from November to February, while surf smelt may spawn throughout the year.

In 2022, MABRRI helped establish the Coastal Forage Fish Network (CFFN), a collaborative initiative bringing together stakeholders and rights holders involved in forage fish monitoring across British Columbia. The network’s vision is to support thriving, stable forage fish populations that sustain predators and contribute to a healthy coastal marine food web. Today, the rapidly growing network includes numerous organizations representing dozens of communities and hundreds of community volunteers. Data collected through the network is shared via the publicly accessible Strait of Georgia Data Centre, hosted by the Pacific Salmon Foundation and the University of British Columbia.

If you’re interested in joining our community-based monitoring network, please contact Kyla.Seward@viu.ca or Jacob.Frankel@viu.ca.