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 travelled to Nanaimo to train the MABRRI team to sample for forage fish eggs, specifically Pacific sand lance and surf smelt. MABRRI began sampling in December 2017, focusing on the Parksville-Qualicum Beach Wildlife Management Area. In mid-2018, MABRRI began hosting training sessions for local community stewardship groups in order to build the capacity of the project. By involving citizen scientists, MABRRI has been able to expand the geographical range far beyond what they would be able to do on their own.

Forage fish are small, schooling fishes that are a critical component of the marine ecosystem and fisheries. Many notable forage fish species include Pacific sand lance, surf smelt, herring, capelin, and anchovy. These fish are based on their ecological role, rather than taxonomy, varying greatly in life histories and global ranges. Forage fish are an integral part of the marine food web, influencing both prey and predator population. They are a key linkage between the upper and lower trophic levels, transferring energy throughout the food web. Our focus for this project are on Pacific sand lance and surf smelt as they share similar spawning areas in the upper intertidal zone on sandy to pea/pebble gravel beaches.

MABRRI’s forage fish project relies heavily on the relationships built with the communities in our study region. We are grateful for the connections we have built as their dedication and commitment to our project has enabled a successful expansion, continued monitoring, and identification of positive spawning beaches. Our network of citizen scientists sample their local beaches and process the sediment, providing samples to MABRRI for analysis. Majority of sampling occurs year-round to capture spawning events from each species. Pacific sand lance are known to spawn from November-February on sandy and pea-gravel beaches. Surf smelt can spawn year-round on pea-gravel to pebble-gravel beaches with a sand base. Presently, MABRRI has identified several beach stations with positive detections of Pacific sand lance eggs.

In 2022, the Coastal Forage Fish Network (CFFN) was created to bring together all those stakeholders and rights holders involved in the monitoring of forage fish and their habitats in a coordinated and integrated manner to better understand the status of these important fish populations in BC. The network’s vision statement is “thriving stable forage fish populations that can sustain the predators that rely upon them and contribute to a healthy marine food web within the coastal waters of BC”. The rapidly growing network now consists of nine groups representing dozens of coastal communities and hundreds of community scientist volunteers. The BCFFMN will work to coordinate efforts to document these fish, in particular surf smelt and Pacific sand lance spawning, and ensure that the scientific data collected by the groups is entered into a publicly accessible central repository, the Strait of Georgia Data Centre database hosted by the Pacific Salmon Foundation and the University of British Columbia (UBC).

If you would like to be a member of our dedicated network of volunteer citizen scientists, please e-mail our project coordinator Alanna Vivani at Alanna.Vivani@viu.ca.