Researchers Chelsea Wood and Natalie Mastick from the University of Washington have made groundbreaking discoveries about marine food webs and parasites in salmon populations using four decades worth of canned salmon. These findings offer valuable insights into ocean health and conservation efforts, particularly for marine mammals like killer whales, seals, and belugas.
The researchers used long-expired canned salmon provided by the Seafood Products Association to analyze parasitic loads in the fish. These parasites serve as proxies for marine mammal infection since they cannot breed without these predators. By studying the parasites found in the canned salmon, Wood and Mastick were able to reconstruct fluctuations over time in infection burden among various salmon species. One significant finding was the increase in worms within the salmon muscle tissue, indicating a potential ‘conservation success story’ for marine mammals as their populations recover.