Pacific herring are a small silver forage fish near the base of the food chain that eat plankton, and in turn are eaten by everything from Chinook and Coho salmon to larger fish, birds, whales, and bears. An essential link in the marine food web, they are a critically important Read more…
As I was making a salad for dinner last night with fresh greens from our small greenhouse (which made a surprisingly amazing bounce back following our late season cold snap), my six-year-old son started talking to me about science. Now, my son tends to be extreme in all things, sometimes Read more…
Weekly Sea Discovery: What are phytoplankton and why are they globally important? In this week’s Sea Discovery, we are going microscopic! Lately, you may have noticed the waters surrounding Mayne becoming very green and murky. This colour change is due to microscopic algae known as phytoplankton. What are phytoplankton? Their Read more…
Today’s Weekly Sea Discovery: the Pacific Sand Lance! Pacific Sand Lance are members of the extremely important food web group known as “Forage Fish”. You may recognize this term from recent news about another member of this group, the Pacific Herring, which has faced over-exploitation along the coast of British Columbia. Forage fish are important link in the food Read more…