Plunker,

As for the Canadian Rivers that empty out into the Strait of Georgia there is some talk and a little bit of research going on about smolts and Aqua culture. Some tracking research has gone on that shows smolts are leaving rivers and following shore lines into each bay many of them have salmon farms in them. Many of the smolts leave their home estuaries and then return for awhile before heading north and to open ocean. I hope more funding and study can be done on this as many have concern about sea lice infestation and smolts. Seems that the rivers you are talking about started to crash again about the same time the aqua culture industry really started to spread throughout this area. I'm not saying it is the problem but more should be done and with honesty to find out.

I wonder if our Washington steelhead smolts from the Puget Sound rivers migrate north and out to sea by way of the Georgia Strait. We need to have a study done to find out as there has been little or none done yet and there is now the technology to do so. We know that our silvers go out the Strait between Washington and Vancover Island where there is little if any Aqua Culture and they are doing fine. Could Steelhead smolts who are shoreline followers be getting hammered by too many salmon farms in the Straits of Georgia?