……objective science for conservation…….

The Pacific Wildlife Foundation is a non-profit coastal and marine research and education society  that inspires an appreciation for objective scientific research and conservation of the ocean. We conduct original research, develop novel education programs, and inspire an appreciation for conservation of the ocean. 

Watch the Amazing Black Oystercatcher Video - Tidecatchers

June 2008 -The Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia is one of the largest intact temperate rainforests in the world. The region is 
characteristically dotted with hundreds of islands and intersected by 
channels, passages and fjords but not many roads, so much of the 
rainforest has not been well explored. PWLF has partnered with Bird 
Studies Canada to visit the Great Bear Rianforest over the next 5 
years to document the distribution and abundance of birds for the 
British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas. Thanks to generous support, PWLF 
spent 10 days in June documenting birds along the northern shore of 
Vancouver Island and the mainland. We plan to visit new areas in 2009. 
Contact us for details.

30 volunteers + 1,000 plants = a better inlet

PWLF's restoration of an historic seagrass meadow in Port Moody Inlet, British Columbia has been successful. Over 500 eelgrass plants transplanted in the summer of 2007 are flourishing -  November 2007

PWLF is examining the response of prey to the return of bald eagles to former haunts in southern British Columbia. Identifying prey remains of eagles is a new task being undertaken by Dr. Jon Driver, Dean of Graduate Studies at Simon Fraser University and his students. They will identify skeletal remains by comparing them to archeological collections of bones.

Ten Unanswered Questions about the Ocean

Many people think scientists know a lot more than they do. This is especially true in ecology where the discipline is only four decades old and some of the basic theory is not well understood.  The following ten questions are topics that might intrigue a curious young scientist to explore for answers.

Wildlife of the Pacific

Blue Whale

Balaenoptera musculus

The blue whale is the largest animal to have ever lived on Earth. It weighs up to 136,000 kg and is as long as 34 m. It is pale blue-gray in colour with a tiny dorsal fin. Blue whales occur in cold and temperate regions where the water is deep. They travel alone, as mother and calves, and rarely as adult pairs. Only occasionally do they gather in loose groups to feed. The blue whale is found in all the oceans of the world. The blue whale is known to occur in the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. .  There are three subspecies.  B. m.  intermedia occurs in Antarctic waters, B. m. musculus is found in the northern hemisphere and B. m.  brevicauda also known as the pygmy” blue whale is found in the southern Indian Ocean and southwest Pacific Ocean. The number of blue whales was greatly depleted by commercial whaling before 1964.

Blue Whale Feeding Behaviour

The blue whale eats mostly on euphasiids or ‘krill’ during the summer feeding season and lives off stored fat for the remaining eight months of the year. Blue whales make shallow dives that last for 10 to 20 minutes while feeding on krill near the surface. Deep dives are preceded by headstands that reveal wide tail flukes. Returning to the surface, the whale exhales blows that rise about 10 meters in the air. Blue whales eat over five tonnes of food each day during the summer feeding season. During the other 8 months of the year, it apparently doesn't eat anything, living off of stored fat. The blue whale gulps in large quantities of krill and seawater and then uses it tongue to forces the water out through the baleen plates.

Northwestern Crow

Corvus caurinus

Wily, noisy and ubiquitous, the northwestern crow is a seashore predator of marine invertebrates, and birds’ eggs and chicks along the Pacific Coast from Washington to southern Alaska. The crow is found mostly around human habitation but it also occurs along beaches and on seabird islands. 

The major food items include a variety of marine and terrestrial invertebrates. Its diet includes a beach smorgasbord of clams, whelks, crustaceans, sea urchins and small fish. On land it eats, insects, eggs and nestlings of cormorants, gulls, songbirds, oystercatchers, auklets, and herons, as well as fruits, and carrion. Some surplus food is cached for later consumption.

Learn more about Northwestern Crows