Notes from the Field

Sailing with Raincoast in 2018

Achiever rests, sails down, in the twilight.

Published on 2018.02.07 | by Nicholas Sinclair | in Notes from the Field

In May, our spring ‘hunts’ visited lush estuaries as the days grew longer and bears were down low grazing on sedges. Marine wildlife started to make their way back to the rich, cold waters of the coast. Their annual migration to foraging areas beginning and lasting well…

First rains bring spawners and bald eagles back to Vancouver Island rivers

An eagle sits watching over a BC coastal stream.

Published on 2018.01.17 | by Kristen Walters, Lower Fraser River Salmon Conservation Program Coordinator | in Notes from the Field

Last fall, while the dry start to autumn put the brilliant golds, reds and oranges of tree leaves on display, my mind continuously returned to the rain. Not the rain that many dread, but the rain that floods small watersheds and raises the water levels in the rivers…

Community-based science and communing with the coast

Marlie Van Roy lifts a canoe in preparation for departure.

Published on 2017.09.30 | by Marlie Van Roy | in Notes from the Field

“Rain’s supposed to come down even harder this afternoon,” says our Skipper Murray ‘Moose’ Barton and we lower the canoe into the water…

Getting the next generation of Salish Sea stewards back to school

Published on 2017.09.20 | by Ross Dixon, Communications & Development Director | in Notes from the Field

As scientists we learn from each other, our Indigenous partners, the wildlife we study and the youth we engage. For over 15 years, as guests of the Heiltsuk Nation, Raincoast staff scientists have supported the development of local youth as future stewards…

How a Dutchman found himself knee-deep in Fraser River mud

Misty MacDuffee and Wiet van Bragt survey the Fraser River in the lower mainland.

Published on 2017.08.31 | by Wiet van Bragt | in Notes from the Field

We used several techniques to catch the tiny salmon. We purse seined for them on the flats of the estuary in Georgia Strait, we beach seined along the shoreline of the river delta, and we set up fyke nets in the side channels of the river mouth…

Eat chocolate, save the bears and win a trip with Raincoast

How to win a trip to the Great Bear Rainforest.

Published on 2017.05.25 | by Chris Genovali, Executive Director | in Notes from the Field

Right now our research vessel Achiever is sailing along the coast of the Great Bear Rainforest, through coastal fjords, vast forests, and shorelines of one of the planet’s last great tracts of intact temperate coastal rainforest. You can them and help Save the Great Bears…

The spring ‘hunt’

Raincoast vessel Achiever shares the water with a bear and countless other animals.

Published on 2017.03.19 | by Nicholas Sinclair | in Notes from the Field

Preparing for another season, Nick finds himself inundated with tasks, plans and thoughts about the research and advocacy that Raincoast undertakes to protect bears and the coast they inhabit…

Genetics results for Chinook salmon are in!

A salt marsh at the mouth of the Fraser River is used by juvenile salmon, other fish species, and thousands of resident and migratory birds.

Published on 2017.02.08 | by David Scott, Raincoast Lower Fraser Salmon Program Coordinator | in Notes from the Field

When you picture a research biologist’s day you probably imagine them on a boat or in a forest, immersed in nature with a notebook in hand. However, for much of the year we are tucked away in labs or at our desks, analyzing data…

“Hunt” grizzlies in the Great Bear Rainforest with Raincoast in 2017

Published on 2017.02.02 | by Raincoast | in Notes from the Field

What is it like to go on a “grizzly hunt” in the Great Bear Rainforest aboard Raincoast’s 70ft research vessel the Achiever? This year, why not join us and find out…