Marine Monitoring Network:

• Fisherman Bay Marine Health Observatory
• Friday Harbor Marine Health Observatory
• Indian Island Marine Health Observatory
• Lopez Community Salmon Team
• Waldron Citizen Science
• Iceberg Point Project

Lopez Community Salmon Team:

• Photo Gallery
• Habitat Preferences
• Prey Base Study
• Streams of Origin

 

 

Home > Research > San Juan Islands Marine Monitoring Network

Lopez Community Salmon Team

Lopez Community Salmon Team (Lopez Island) monitors a large salmon nursery at Watmough Bight, a protected beach on the island’s largely undeveloped south shore.  Every two weeks from late May to October, volunteers use a special 120-foot seine to sample aggregations of fish in the bay.  Juvenile Chinook and Coho salmon are measured, their caudal fins clipped for genotyping to determine their streams of origin, and non-lethal gut lavage used to identify what they have been eating.  All visible injuries and parasites are also recorded.  Sandlance, the major fish prey of juvenile Chinook, are also tagged, clipped, and monitored.  Seabirds are especially abundant around Watmough Bight and the south shores of Lopez, and prey on sandlance and herring as well as small salmon.  Volunteers monitor seabird diversity, abundance, prey use, and nesting success from six viewpoints at Iceberg Point several times per month.  Results are reported to the community at SalmonAtion, a mid-January celebration with locally produced food and wine, music, and art.