Strawberry Isle Research Projects:
Grice Bay Gray Whale Feeding Ground Research

Overview

In May of '95 we started a monthly monitoring of sub-bottom organisms in the Gray Whale feeding ground at Grice Bay. The methods used for this project continue to evolve. Advisors receive copies of the resulting field data in report form. Our work in Grice Bay is done under a permit from Canadian Parks Service.

Methods

Every month we take nine core samples from the Gray Whales feeding ground in Grice Bay. Sampling is carried out by divers using an air lift that extracts a core 13 cm. In diameter by 20 cm. deep. The air lift deposits the sample through a 1 mm. mesh plankton net. The remaining sample is then sorted into phylum and counted. Unidentified specimens are shipped to taxonomist Dr. Ken Low for identification. This work is carried out with a boat driver, diver and deck hand aboard the 8-metre vessel "Punt." The diver and boat tender are SIRS' staff while the deck hand is a volunteer. This project is done under permit from the Canadian Parks Service. Back at Strawberry Isle the field notes are entered into a data base then distributed as a report as described in the introduction.

The purpose of this study is an attempt to find out what happens in the food chain to trigger the Gray Whales to, on occasion, utilize the bay as a feeding ground. A significant aspect of this study is that it is establishing some year round, baseline, data about the bay that could prove invaluable in the event of a natural or human induced disruption. All samples are marked, preserved in formalin and stored for possible future examination by whoever may be able to use them. A significant component of the food chain is Ghost Shrimp, two speciments shown on hand of Rod Palm in this photo