Published scientific literature

Raincoast is a team of scientists and conservationists that undertake primary research and publishes peer-reviewed science to inform our conservation objectives. As an evidence-based, conservation science organisation (science ENGO), that operates a research lab, research field station and a research/sailing vessel, we are unique in Canada.

Two people looking in a viewfinder at a salmon smolt while doing monitoring on the North Arm Jetty — Photo by Alex Harris / Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

Two people analyzing bear hair. — Photo by Grant Callegari, Hakai Magazine

Investigate. Inform. Inspire.

Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government and other NGOs to gather information and build support for decisions that protect marine and terrestrial ecosystems, their components and processes. We conduct applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for the conservation debate and the collective body of scientific knowledge.

Peer-reviewed science publications

Figures from a research paper an assessing conservation progress in British Columbia

Canada’s Wild Salmon Policy: an assessment of conservation progress in British Columbia

2017 August 24

Scientific literature

This paper, lead by scientists at Simon Fraser University and co-authored by two Raincoast biologists, finds that Canada’s Wild Salmon Policy has failed to improve the conservation of Pacific salmon…

An assortment of figures from the paper, Quantifying marine mammal hotspots in British Columbia, Canada

Research: Quantifying marine mammal hotspots in British Columbia, Canada

2017 July 28

Scientific literature

Building on Raincoast’s five years spent surveying marine mammals on the BC coast, a new approach to linking environmental conditions with marine mammal densities has identified hotspots of marine mammal…

Whales eating close to the shore on the North Coast of the Great Bear Rainforest.

Research: Oil Spills and marine mammals – development and application of a risk-based conceptual framework

2017 July 24

Scientific literature

Using BC as a case study, this paper develops a framework for examining risk to oil spills faced by marine mammals. We found that in BC, killer whales (residents…

Two maps showing the distribution of bears in british columbia.

Research: Intrapopulation diversity in isotopic niche over landscapes: Spatial patterns inform conservation of bear–salmon systems

2017 June 22

Scientific literature

New dietary study reveals salmon hotspots for grizzly and black bears across 700,000 square kilometres

3 smiling trophy hunters kneel behind the dead grizzly they have killed.

Hunting for status: men trophy hunt as a signal they can absorb the costs

2017 March 28

Scientific literature

Just days before the controversial trophy hunt of grizzly bears resumes in BC on April 01, science offers new insight into the human super predator…

Seagull flies low over the water touch their feet onto the orange sunset surface.

Marine birds and chronic oil pollution on Canada’s Pacific coast

2016 September 9

Scientific literature

Chronic oil pollution is a serious issue in BC. More oil enters the global marine environment from low-level human activities than catastrophic oil spills. Evidence also suggests that these chronic…