Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation

The Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation (HSRC) is a Vancouver-based company funded by the Old Massett band of Haida Gwaii. The company conducted a small scale Ocean Fertilization experiment in 2012.

120 tons of iron compound were deposited in the migration routes of pink and sockeye salmon in the Pacific ocean West of Haida Gwaii over a period of 30 days.[1] The project resulted in a 35,000 km2 plankton bloom that lasted for several months and was confirmed by NASA satellite imagery.[2] The HSRC scientific team collected a significant amount of oceanographic data using autonomous underwater vehicles (Slocum Gliders), Argo Drifters, Multi-Spectral Sonar, Surface Seawater samples, Phytoplankton Tows and other methods.

In 2013 the west coast of North America experienced its largest salmon return and subsequently its largest commercial salmon harvest in history, from 50 million to 226 million fish.[3] Commercial fisheries were opened in areas that had not seen a commercial opening since the 1960s. In 2014 the Fraser River experienced its second largest sockeye salmon return in history while the Columbia River recorded its largest salmon of all time.[4]

On 15 July 2014, the oceanographic scientific data gathered during the project was made publicly available under the ODbL license.[5]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.nature.com/news/ocean-fertilization-project-off-canada-sparks-furore-1.11631
  2. ↑ http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/giovanni/giovanni_user_images#iron_bloom_northPac
  3. ↑ Zubrin, Robert. "The Pacific's Salmon Are Back — Thank Human Ingenuity". Nationalreview.com. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  4. ↑ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/pink-salmon-reaching-fraser-river-in-massive-numbers/article14298697/
  5. ↑ http://www.whoi.edu/ocb-fert/page.do?pid=38315
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