The migration that adult Pacific salmon make from distant ocean feeding grounds to spawning streams hundreds of kilometers inland is among the most remarkable phenomena in the natural world. Our lab has conducted extensive work to advance the basic understanding of those migrations. Field and laboratory studies have examined reproductive hormones, total energy storage, stress levels, and whether specific genes, indicative of disease or thermal stress, are being turned on and off. We simulate migrations using fish holding tanks and swim tunnels in combination with sophisticated physiological measurements to understand how and why salmon perish at high migration temperatures, and how their cardiorespiratory and swimming performance is affected. Our work has allowed us to understand why some sockeye salmon enter the Fraser River earlier than they should (to their detriment), what the effects of high river temperatures have been on survival during migration, and how disease profiles of salmon in the ocean affect subsequent survival to spawn in freshwater. 

Selected Publications

Van Wert, J.C., Ekström, A.E., Gilbert, M.J.H., Hendriks, B.J., Cooke, S.J., Patterson, D.A., Hinch, G.S., Eliason, E.J. (2024). Coronary circulation enhances the aerobic performance of wild Pacific salmon. Journal of Experimental Biology, 227(20), jeb247422. doi:10.1242/jeb.247422

Birnie-Gauvin, K., D.A. Patterson, S.J. Cooke, S.G. Hinch, E.J. Eliason 2023. Anaerobic metabolism and recovery: roles and implications for mortality in Pacific salmon. Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture. 31(4):497-522.

Wilson, S.M., S. G. Hinch, D.A. Patterson, Eliason, E.J., S. J. Cooke. 2022. Estimating adult Pacific salmon energy use in coastal British Columbia and the Fraser River estuary with acoustic accelerometer transmitters. Estuaries and Coasts 45: 2134–2150 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-022-01055-z

Kraskura, K., E.A. Hardison, A.G. Little, T. Dressler, T.S. Prystay, B. Hendriks, A.P. Farrell, S.J. Cooke, D.A. Patterson, S.G. Hinch and E.J. Eliason. 2021. Sex-specific differences in swimming, aerobic metabolism, and recovery from exercise in adult coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) across ecologically relevant temperatures. Conserv Physiol 9(1): coab016; doi:10.1093/conphys/coab016

Stevenson, C.F., Hinch, S.G., Porter, A.D., Rechisky, E.L., Welch, D.W., Healy, S.J., Lotto, A.G., Furey, N.B. 2019. The Influence of Smolt Age on Freshwater and Early Marine Behavior and Survival of Migrating Juvenile Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka). Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 148 (3): 636-651.

Houde, A.L.S., Günther, O.P., Strohm, J., Li, S., Kaukinen, H., Patterson, D.A., Farrell, A.P., Hinch, S.G., Miller, K.M. 2019. Discovery and validation of candidate smoltification gene expression biomarkers across multiple species and ecotypes of Pacific salmonids. Conservation Physiology7(1) coz051.

Minke-Martin, V., Hinch, S.G, Braun, D.C., Burnett, N.J., Casselman, M.T., Eliason, E.J., Middleton, C.T. 2018. Physiological condition and migratory experience affect fitness-related outcomes in adult female sockeye salmon. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 27(1): 296-309.

Healy, S.J., Hinch, S.G., Bass, A.L., Furey, N.B., Miller, K.M., Porter, A.D., Rechisky, E.L., Welch, D.L., Lotto, A.G. 2018. Transcriptome profiles relate to migration fate in hatchery steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) smolts. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 75(11): 2053-2068.

Bett, N.N., Hinch, S.G., Kaukinen, K.H., Li, S., Miller, K.M. 2018. Olfactory gene expression in migrating adult sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka. Journal of Fish Biology 92: 2029-2038.

For other publications, please see our Publications page.