Juvenile Salmonid Populations- Pacific Rim

This program is used to determine juvenile salmonid population status and trends for Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Surveys occur annually during the first two weeks of August and are focused on Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and Cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii). Data are derived from in-stream salmon fry sampling by use of minnow trap at select streams in the Long Beach and West Coast Trail units of the Park with historical runs of salmon. Salmonid fishes act as an ecological process vector, connecting and transporting energy and nutrients between the freshwater environments, coastal forests and marine ecosystems. They also integrate region-scale changes in the state of the marine environment. Streams flowing through the Long Beach Unit of PRNPR historically supported important runs of Coho, Chum (O. keta) and Chinook (O. tshawytscha) salmon with Sockeye (O. nerka) being an important species in a number of stream-lake systems in the West Coast Trail Unit. The datasets are used to determine the relative abundance of Salmonid fishes relative to a long term average and to assess how salmon bearing creeks respond to ecological restoration.