Beach Sampling for Forage Fish

Beach sampling for Forage Fish is a nice way to spend an hour of so conducting Citizen Science on behalf of MVIHES. We’ve got this in the calendar for multiple days, but it is a range. Not a full day, or a multi-day commitment! 

Once a month we monitor 3 sites on our local beaches for the presence of Pacific Sand Lance and Surf Smelt (forage fish for young salmon) eggs and egg casings in partnership with the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI).

There are two steps to the process. The first step involves collecting sand samples from specific sites on beaches in San Pariel. Collection of sand samples takes about 1 hour.

The second step is sieving the samples to isolate the fine sand grains where the tiny eggs are found. This step also takes about 2 hours.

Contact Shelley at mvihes@mvihes.bc.ca and she will set up teams to sample and to sieve the samples.