Join us in the Great Bear Rainforest in 2019
We watch as her three little cubs slowly take to the high water and make their way to mom. They graze on roots, and search for salmon carcasses that simply aren’t there. The cub’s curiosity…
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April conservation expedition with Raincoast’s Dr. Paul Paquet
As Raincoast’s Senior Scientist, and a world renowned large carnivore expert, Paul’s input is key to guiding our research and conservation programs in both the Great Bear Rainforest and the Salish Sea. Paul will provide insight into key conservation issues on BC’s coast including…
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Advancing non-invasive approaches for monitoring wildlife: considering the ethics of developing new techniques
A theme that underlies our research in the Applied Conservation Lab is that we aim to apply methods that are minimally invasive to wildlife. This ethos emerges in large part from our partners in First Nations communities, who have taught us many important lessons about respecting the people, places, and animals where we work. Our…
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Meet the team of applied conservation scientists at the University of Victoria
Last year the Raincoast lab at UVic marked an important new milestone with the creation of the Raincoast Chair in Applied Conservation Science at the University of Victoria. This five year Chaired Professorship allows us to expand our research, teaching and outreach programs in community-driven applied conservation science. Our long-term vision is to train next…
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Southern Resident killer whales need more than luck
The reality is that calves like Lucky only have a 40% chance of survival. More sobering still is the fact that no calves have survived in this population in the last three years. This is why we have stopped using images…
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L124 is the newest member of the Southern Resident killer whales
Listen to Misty MacDuffee explain some of the context around the recent birth of L124 in the Salish Sea. Declines in Chinook abundance, especially to the Fraser, are affecting killer whale behaviour patterns, fertility and survival…
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Why Southern Resident killer whales, and the Salish Sea, need your help
The Southern Resident killer whales are critically endangered. 1 2 After years of legal, scientific, and public outreach efforts requesting concrete action from federal agencies, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, David Suzuki Foundation, Georgia Strait Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council and World Wildlife Fund-Canada, represented by Ecojustice, filed a lawsuit in September 2018 to compel the government…
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Salmon species diversity predicts salmon consumption by terrestrial wildlife
Research by scientists at Spirit Bear Research Foundation, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, and the University of Victoria, led by Christina Service, shows that salmon species diversity – the number of spawning salmon species available – is far more important and positively related to salmon consumption in coastal black bears than biomass abundance…
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Canada should rethink unproven, dangerous chemical ‘cleanup’ of marine oil spills
As noted, Corexit can also be toxic to wildlife. For some species, such as herring embryos, toxicity occurs because Corexit does what it was designed to do: increase the concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons in the water column. However, there is also a growing body of research, much of it conducted in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010…
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Misty MacDuffee joins Adam Stirling on CFAX 1070 to discuss Washington State’s billion dollar plan to aid killer whale recovery
Misty MacDuffee and Adam Stirling discuss the benefits and the shortcomings of Washington’s investment, the problem with dams, aid to Chinook hatcheries and new hatchery production. They discuss the genetic and ecological implications from hatcheries and why MacDuffee believes this makes them a poor investment for salmon recovery and Southern Resident killer whales. …
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Tracking Raincoast into 2019
Raincoast science is contributing to a large and growing body of evidence that shows the current levels of Chinook abundance, ocean noise, vessel disturbance, and pollution, create conditions that make population recovery for the Southern Residents untenable…
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We did it! Fundraising for the Nadeea tenure is complete
With online donations, cheques arriving in the mail, and match funding in place, we can now confirm that we’ve finally met our fundraising goal of $500,000! In the coming weeks we will formally complete our purchase of the Nadeea hunting tenure…
