124 EIGHTH PACIFIC SCIENCE CONGRESS 



Strait in late summer and early fall, appear in large schools among 

 the various channels off the east coast of Vancouver Island, and spawn 

 in March. This cycle of events in the life history of the herring is es- 

 sentially similar to that of the sockeye salmon, and I suggest that the 

 basic factors are similar to those which I have postulated for the sal- 

 mon (Clemens 1951). I am confident that a careful investigation will 

 reveal an intimate relationship between the annual cycle of the environ- 

 ment and the physiological cycle of the fish. 



It has been well-established that the California current divides 

 off the British Columbia coast with a portion turning northwestward 

 to form the Alaskan gyro while the main current proceeds southeast- 

 ward. It is suspected that considerable variations occur throughout 

 the years in the division point of the current. It is possible that such 

 vagaries of the water masses may be related to the variations in the 

 distribution of the albacore and in the migrations of Pacific salmon. 



Finally in the field of biological productivity no attack has been 

 made on the problem since the work of Hutchinson, Lucas and asso- 

 ciates in 1927 to 1929, when they investigated the relation of the phys- 

 ical and chemical properties of the water of Georgia Strait to the 

 quantities of phytoplankton occurring during the summer months. The 

 coastal waters of British Columbia with all their complicated features 

 by reason of heavy river discharge, strong tidal currents and channel 

 turbulence, offer a challenging field of fundamental research in biol- 

 ogical productivity. 



The examples may serve to illustrate a few of the exciting problems 

 existing for the biological oceanographer on the Pacific coast of Canada. 



References 



1. Clemens, W. A. On the Migration of Pacific Salmon (Oncorhynchus). 



Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Vol. XLV, Ser. Ill, Sect. V, 9-17, 1951. 



2. Hutchinson, A. H. A Bio-Hydrographical Investigation of the Sea Ad- 



jacent to the Fraser River Mouth. Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Vol. XXII, 

 Ser. Ill, Sect. V, 293-310, 1928. 



3. Hutchinson, A. H., C. C. Lucas and M. McPhail. Seasonal Variations 



in the Chemical and Physical Properties of the Waters of the Strait of 

 Georgia in Relation to Phytoplankton. Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Vol. 

 XXIII, Ser. Ill, Sect. V, 177-183, 1929. 



4. Kemp, Stanley. Oceanography and the Fluctuations in the Abundance 



of Marine Animals. Rept. Ann. Meeting Br. Assoc. Adv. So., Cam- 

 bridge, 83-101, 1938. 



5. Lucas, C. C. and A. H. Hutchinson. A Bio-Hydrographical Investigation 



of the Sea Adjacent to the Fraser River Mouth. Trans. Roy. Soc. 

 Can., Vol, XXI, Ser. Ill, Sect. V, 485-520, 1927. 



