Projects and Partners

The development of world-wide, permanent arrays of acoustic receivers on the seabed will open the gate to a flood of new knowledge ranging from the movement and survival of marine animals to the physical conditions of the ocean. Here we highlight a selection of the projects that are being conducted using the POST acoustic array.

Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) Project - 2001-ongoing
The Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking project came together to find out if acoustic technology can be used in a large-scale and on-going way to pry open the black box that holds so much information about animal life in the ocean. Test projects have been conducted on a range of stocks for four species of anadromous fish. Read More.

Bonneville Power Administration - Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking Project (POST): Acoustic Tracking Study on Survival of Columbia River Salmon - 2004-2006
Chinook salmon were acoustically tagged and released in a project to understand the ocean survival and movements of fish that might be affected by dams on the Columbia River system. Smolts from the endangered Snake River spring chinook run were tracked up the coast migrating at more than 20 kms/day (2 body lengths/second). Read More.

Pacific Salmon Commission - Determination of Cultus Lake Sockeye Run Timing and Survival: Out-Migrating Smolts and Returning Adults - 2004-2005
Cultus Lake sockeye were classified as “Endangered” by COSEWIC in May 2003. This stock is difficult to protect because it is unclear how the timing of migration overlaps with that of the economically-important, southern British Columbia, sockeye fishery. Acoustically tagged smolts were released immediately downstream of Cultus Lake. Survival within the Fraser River dropped precipitously in 2005 compared to 2004 although subsequent survival as the smolts migrated out of the Strait of Georgia was nearly identical to 2004. “Sleeper” tags implanted in the larger smolts will re-activate in 2007, providing additional data on the in-migration of adults surviving to return. Read More.

British Columbia Hydro - Assessment of Coquitlam Reservoir Salmon Migratory Pathways - 2005
Stakeholders have begun investigating the possibility of reintroducing salmon to the habitat above the Coquitlam Lake Dam. Coho smolts were implanted with acoustic tags and then introduced to the reservoir. Smolt survival was good, but no evidence that any smolts ever left the reservoir was found. Read More.