We are hiring for three positions working on salmon and herring interactions and salmon diet. If you are interested check out the postings below. 

The application closing date has been extended to September 1, 2023 for the Herring/Salmon Research Coordinator position. 

We are also hiring two Victoria-based research technicians for both the Adult Salmon Diet Program and a Herring/Salmon Interactions Project!

We are also hiring two Victoria-based research technicians for both the Adult Salmon Diet Program and a Herring/Salmon Interactions Project!

The BC Adult Salmon Diet Program (ASDP) is hiring a research technician to work on the program starting in September 2023!

The ASDP started in 2017 and to date has processed over 4000 Chinook and Coho salmon stomachs! We are looking for a fish or marine ecology enthusiast with a desire to learn more about Salmon and forage fish ecology on the BC coast. If you interested check out the description below.
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Deadline for application is August 15th, 2023

The noise generated by ships has had known impacts on many marine species with a focus on whales that use sound for foraging and social behaviours. Beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) are sensitive to high frequency sounds as their hearing is most sensitive from 20kHz to 75kHz with an upper limit of 125kHz. Most commercial vessels produce anthropogenic noise between 10 Hz to 63.1 kHz frequency with a sound pressure level of ~110 decibels (dB). Icebreaking ships produce noise  between 20–1,000 Hz band up to 200dB (100-200dB). 100 decibels is approximately equated to a motorcycle at full speed, however sound behaves different in water relative to air where pressure becomes even more important.   

It was previously found that belugas can detect the sounds of icebreaking ships at 85km away and change their behaviour at more than 40km away. A recent study by Martin, et al. (2021) used telemetry tag data previously collected by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to assess the responses of these tagged whales to ships in the area by pairing the tag data with the satellite AIS data Morgan and her team were able to assess the behavioural changes of the tagged whales. Previously studies looked at the change in behaviour from the surface. The introduction of the tag data allows the researchers to assess any changes in speed, acceleration and diving behaviours. The most common response to a vessel by belugas was a sharp turn to avoid the ship and sometimes doubling back to original course once the ship had passed. Whales also displayed other behaviours when coming into close proximity of a ship such as a steep 'V' shaped dive to depth, a shallow dive and  course adjustment away from the noise and increased speed when swimming away from the ship. 

The response of marine organisms to anthropogenic noise sources is becoming increasingly important as reduced ice coverage in the Canadian Arctic opens those waterways for more vessel traffic. Understanding the responses of these organisms to vessels can help managers determine the best path to reducing impact in the face of increased vessel traffic. 

To find out more check out Morgan Martin's Google Scholar and an article by Hakai Magazine. 

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 Niki Digou a post-doc in the Juanes Lab presented a talk on the use of passive acoustics to monitor marine mammals in March 2022 as part of the UVic School of Earth and Ocean Science Seminar Series. She covers the basics of passive acoustics including considerations, applications and included some clips of underwater noise produced by cetaceans  and pinnipeds. 

Niki is currently studying the acoustic ecology of bowhead whales in the arctic. These whales are the only endemic baleen whale in the arctic and are especially important to the Inuit culturally and nutritionally. Niki Digou works with Bill Halliday and Morgan Martin on acoustic studies of the Arctic. 
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Fun Facts about Bowhead Whales 

• Thickest skull and can beak through ice as thick as 1 m 
• Longest living mammal, more than 200 years
• Thickest blubber of all whales
• Longest baleen plates of ALL baleen plates as long as 3 m.

Congratulations to Dr. Xavier Mouy on a great defense and dissertations! We will miss you in the lab environment but we all look forward to working with you in future! You brought some amazing innovation to the lab with the development of you FishCam that will be a legacy as others continue to use the cameras in their ongoing research. '

Enjoy the sun and beach of Miami!

Congratulations to Dr. Kieran Cox on a successful defense and exit seminar! It has been a pleasure having you in the lab these last few years. You brought boundless enthusiasm and provided valuable feedback for all those in both the Juanes and Baum Lab!

Thanks for all your hard work and we look forward to seeing all your accomplish in the future. 

​Every aspiring young marine biologist dreams of working with sharks, so when my wife Sarah and I were sitting on the couch this past Tuesday evening and she proclaimed: “A shark washed up on the beach in North Saanich…  do you want to go see it?”, I had my gumboots on and field kit ready to go within minutes. Upon arrival at Coles Bay Regional Park, we made our way down to the beach, flashlight in hand. It was dark and waves lapped on the shore as we scanned the edges of the water. The beam from our flashlight found a single glowing green eye in the distance. We had found the shark.

​We identified the recently deceased shark as Hexanchus griseus, the bluntnose sixgill. We took photos and a quick length measurement - it was roughly 4 meters long. It was difficult to sex the large shark because of scavenging, but we suspected it to be a pregnant female based on the swollen belly. We went home and I immediately began contacting the people and agencies needed to facilitate a proper necropsy. I contacted the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to get permission for our lab to head the investigation. While waiting for DFO approval, I went back to the site to talk with media and the public. While we were chatting about the shark, a woman lifted the shark’s pelvic fin and asked: “does this look like a birth canal?” Sure enough, the head of a shark pup could be seen inside the mother’s cloaca. With a small tug, the deceased pup came free; proving the pregnant mother theory true. The pup was brought back to the lab at the University of Victoria (UVic) for further analysis.
When permission to conduct the necropsy was granted, our lab swung into action. As a research assistant in the Fisheries, Ecology, and Marine Conservation Lab at UVic, I work with a number of experts.  Julia Baum and Francis Juanes supervise many Marine Ecology graduate students in a shared workspace. Our team assembled at the university to load up our gear. Before we departed, we learned that someone had removed the head of the shark from the site. We had hoped to gain accurate length measurements, and collect the brain and eyes for further analysis, so were disappointed but undeterred... thankfully we had a rough length measurement from the initial visit to the shark two nights before. 

​The Baum/Juanes lab team arrived at the beach and we got to work collecting samples while answering questions and sharing information with the public. It was an incredible opportunity to demonstrate science in action and for visitors to the beach who were keen to learn more about sharks in the Salish Sea. 

​Video of the team at work on the beach 

​In a few hours, 72 pups total were collected and kilograms of tissue samples were on ice. With the necropsy behind us, the work was just beginning. The next day, we all met back at the lab to organize analyses. With help from volunteers, we collected data and prepared samples including: pup measurements for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans; tissue samples for stable isotope, fatty acid, and microplastic analysis; inspecting the mother’s gastrointestinal tract for prey and parasites; and clipping fins for DNA samples. Black Press Media reporter Nick Murray, who originally broke the beached shark story, bought us pizza for lunch, which was much appreciated.

​There is still plenty to be done: samples to send, data to analyse, and papers to write; but if all of this results in new information about sixgill sharks (spoiler alert: it will), then we have done our jobs as scientists. We cannot say definitively what the cause of the mother sharks death was, and it is sad to have lost her and all her pups, but we are making the best of it by contributing scientific information about this largely unknown deep-water shark.