'It's one of the very few animal formations that we can see from space, excluding human developments and towns,' says researcher with the SPECTRAL Remote Sensing Laboratory at the University of Victoria.
A new scientific endeavour has taken to the sky using high-tech drones and satellite images to understand better the annual spring herring spawn vital to salmon and wildlife on the West Coast.
“The idea behind remote sensing is to be able to monitor huge areas while spending less money than big field expeditions that are very, very expensive.” Herring are a small forage fish with a huge role in the marine food web and are important not only for juvenile and adult salmon but a host of animals such as whales, sea lions, eagles and seabirds, Qualley said.
Herring populations once plentiful stretching along the B.C. coast disappeared in the southern area of the Salish Sea following colonial industry and development in the Lower Mainland. In addition to fishing pressures, the cumulative effects of climate change — warmer, acidic, less oxygenated oceans, shifting food sources, and more extreme weather in tidal zones — coupled with the loss of key habitat to human development and water quality concerns from urban and wastewater runoff may be impacting herring, research suggests.
However, satellite images can likely detect and track smaller or more transitory spawning events along B.C.’s lengthy coastline that could be overlooked but are important to First Nations eager to document herring activity in their territories. The waters off Cortes Island, which typically see infrequent spawning events, were a hive of activity this spring, said biologist Sabina Leader Mense, marine stewardship co-ordinator for the Friends of Cortes Island Society .
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