Salmon

The effect of the British Columbia aquaculture industry on wild salmon stocks is currently unclear. In this project we will create a scientific advisory panel to guide development of an explicit experiment testing the effect of fish farms on wild smolt survival by using a large-scale marine telemetry array to measure survival of key BC salmon stocks. The PDF will extend Kintama’s existing mathematical software to design an optimal 2nd generation array to measure the effect of fish farm exposure on survival and advance aspects of the underlying mathematics.

The spread of pests and pathogens, including exotic insects arriving in packing material and naturalized pests such as the Colorado potato beetle, have a substantial impact on Canadian industry and the economy. Working with food producers, provincial and federal government agencies and wildlife organizations, this project team is developing essential mathematical tools necessary for the management of our natural and agricultural resources. This past year, the group has developed a theory of spreading speeds applicable to many mathematical models of spatial spread in biological systems.