“The Coho Salmon is a modestly-sized anadromous oncorhynchid that lives within the North Pacific rim of Asia and North America. Its life history involves a protracted freshwater phase, before going to sea, often living out its early existence in small streams, sloughs, beaver ponds and lake margins before emigrating to salt water as a smolt. Its marine period is usually about a year-and-a-half long before coming back to its natal watershed to spawn. In southwestern British Columbia, the Coho Salmon lives in the same lowland, mild-climate, valley-bottom ecosystems that we as humans use. Thus, Coho Salmon is a species of fish that provides us with a perfect indicator of our footprint impact in this part of our Province; its profound drop in population numbers, since European settlement, reflects the major, negative changes that we humans have done to our landscape in British Columbia.”

Dr. Marvin Rosenau, Instructor in the Fish Wildlife and Recreation Program at BCIT.