Article content

The Russian research vessel Kaganovsky returned to Vancouver on Monday with an unprecedented treasure trove of data about the little-studied lives of salmon in the open Pacific Ocean.

Genetic testing on hundreds of salmon caught by an international group of fisheries scientists will determine the home rivers and streams of the winter salmon population in the Gulf of Alaska, especially the surprisingly numerous chum.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or The Secret Lives of Salmon: International expedition returns to Vancouver Back to video

Twenty-one scientists from Canada, the U.S., Russia, South Korea and Japan have spent the past month conducting dozens of test fisheries on a grid pattern between Haida Gwaii and the Aleutian Islands, the most extensive survey of the eastern Pacific ever conducted.

Dr. Shigehiko Urawa from the Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute is with the expedition to track chum from Asian river systems and sort them out from North American chum.

Asian chum appear to spend their second and third winters on this side of the Pacific, probably chasing their preferred water temperatures, according to Urawa.