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The BC coast is noticeably different this week, with bright blue waters along some shorelines.
The Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF), a nonprofit committed to conserving and restoring wild Pacific salmon, says the brilliant turquoise waters in places like Qualicum Beach are due to the herring spawn.
The herring spawn is a natural phenomenon that occurs every spring along the Pacific Northwest coast.
PSF was out documenting the event with a team for the newly launched Pacific Herring Project, in partnership with First Nations and the University of Victoria.
The team is using satellite imagery and drones to locate herring spawn sites in remote locations that might be missed by existing plane surveys.
PSF said that the imaging was able to detect herring spawn in Klaskish Inlet on northern Vancouver Island, demonstrating that his method could be an effective way of monitoring and conserving herring on coastline in the future.
The team says that the herring spawning produces a turquoise colour so vibrant it can be seen from space.
"This annual spring event is critical for the food web and brings many species to nearshore areas, including salmon, seals, sea lions, and whales," they add.
Pacific Wild, another conservation group, says the herring spawn is being threatened.
“Once ubiquitous along the coast, spawning events have become fewer, farther between and smaller than they once were,” the organization said in a 2023 update. “A century of industrial overharvesting has left Pacific herring populations up and down the BC coast in a perilous state.”
Pacific Wild said in a January 2024 update that these concerns have still not been addressed, saying it is “business as usual” for fisheries.
The group called the DFO’s increase of the total allowable catch in the Strait of Georgia by 1,433 tons a “monumental step backwards.”
The West Coast of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii are closed to commercial harvest.
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