2026 Forage Fish Feature

In the face of a global biodiversity crisis, some of the most important species are also the easiest to overlook. Project Watershed’s Forage Fish Program is building the science needed to protect these small but mighty fish.

Since 2019, the Forage Fish Program has been a cornerstone of Project Watershed’s coastal conservation work. Pacific sand lance and surf smelt may be small, but they are foundational to coastal ecosystems — feeding salmon, seabirds, and marine mammals. Despite their importance, their spawning habitats are limited, highly vulnerable, and often overlooked in coastal planning and protection.

The program has three core components:

• Monitoring spawning beaches through a long-standing and growing citizen science network;
• Advancing environmental DNA (eDNA) research to detect these understudied, hard-to-find species;
• Restoring rare and “squeezed” intertidal habitat to improve spawning conditions and coastal resilience.

Through strong partnerships and deep community engagement, we are building the most comprehensive forage fish dataset in the region — to inform protection, restoration, and management decisions.

What have we been up to recently?  

It has been a busy season. Over the past few months, our team — led by Stewardship Coordinator Virginia East and Field Technician Kate McKeown — alongside 105 dedicated community scientists, conducted 50 beach spawning surveys, searching for tiny Pacific sand lance and surf smelt eggs (> 1 mm) buried in sand.

Together, volunteers contributed 685 hours of field time. This program thrives because of this powerful and passionate community network — we truly could not do this work without them.

Recent highlights include:

• Adding two new long-term monitoring beaches at Quathiaski Cove and Coleman Road;
• Training five new community leaders to support sampling and mentorship;
• Partnering with North Island College and Vancouver Island University to process samples and analyze our expanding dataset.

Working with students brings fresh insight and energy to the program — and helps train the next generation of coastal scientists while expanding our collective capacity.

What’s happening next? 

This winter, restoration work will begin at Nymph Point Park in Saanich. In partnership with Peninsula Streams Society, we will restore an eroding beach classified as highly suitable forage fish spawning habitat.

Nymph Point Park is one of the few beaches where both Pacific sand lance and surf smelt spawn — and is among the northernmost documented spawning sites for surf smelt, a species that has been mysteriously absent from much of its historical range. Protecting and restoring this site may be critical to the species’ future.

Meanwhile, our environmental DNA (eDNA) program is in full swing. We have collected 150 sand samples from intertidal and subtidal sites across Vancouver Island, working alongside First Nation Guardians, lighthouse keepers, and nonprofit partners. We plan to collect 40 more samples by the end of February.

Some sites are well-known beaches like Sombrio and French Beach. Others require long hikes, boat access, or even flights into remote locations. Our subtidal sampling involves working with skilled skippers and deploying grab samplers — occasionally catching the odd sand lance along the way.

By analyzing these samples, we aim to detect sand lance and surf smelt DNA and use those findings to build predictive habitat models — helping us identify where suitable spawning habitat exists and where protection or restoration is most urgently needed.

Locally, we are also expanding our Herring Program! Anyone can participate by posting photos of herring spawn observations to  iNaturalist. For those ready to dive deeper, we are currently seeking volunteers to conduct structured surveys in search of herring roe.