Brian Timmer

430 am and this is the lineup to watch team Canada play🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁

Definitely earlier than usual. I believe early to mid March is most common, but I don't think these early spawns are completely unheard of.

Herring spawn 2026 is just kicking off around Vancouver Island!

A few Sentinel satellite photos from earlier today, around Hesquiat Harbour, Northern VI, and Hope Island. Apparently a pretty big spawn down at Salmon Beach, but just out of range of Sentinel 2 today.

It's officially spring in Victoria!

I am still actively looking for postdoc positions — please lmk if you (or your friends and colleagues) need a hardworking postdoc with field, lab, and bioinformatic skills!

I am broadly interested in evolution in the ocean, conservation and population genetics, and rapid evolution.

Kelp crab clings onto a blade of bull kelp

Kelp crabs crawling on stipes in the kelp fores

Last week, Dr. Katie Dobkowski generously gave our team a presentation on the role of #kelp
crabs as bull kelp consumers. A few things we learned: they prefer reproductive tissue (sori) over non-reproductive, they have a wide temp tolerance and can turn bright orange if they eat sargassum!

Bull kelp washed up on the beach

Noticing piles of #kelp on the beach? As leaves fall, kelp loosens from the seafloor. Carried ashore, microbes and small creatures break it down, releasing nutrients into the sand and soil. Even after leaving the ocean, kelp supports life on the coast.
#Nature #VancouverIsland

Bull kelp with a green seaweed growing along its stipe

Spotted in the kelp forest this week, signs of seasonal shift! By early fall, bull kelp slows and softens. Epiphytes and larger opportunistic seaweeds can “hitchhike,” becoming micro-habitats for invertebrates and microbes. Even at the end of its life, bull #kelp supports #biodiversity.

My gardener friend crossbred cauliflower and watermelon and it was the saddest plant I've ever seen

They said it was a meloncauli

Bluesky degraded the image, so here is the zoom in!

Yeah quite possibly, I'm not super sure to be honest. I would guess there are multiple factors contributing, including the recent heatwaves they have been having in Europe. Likely some issues with eutrophication as well?

Right? I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like it. Sort of reminds me of the gnarly cyanobacteria blooms on lakes in Manitoba

Absolutely wild phytoplankton blooms happening in the Baltic Sea right now. This scene was captured with the Sentinel-2 satellite on July 21, 2025.

Zoom in.

Kelp Rescue is excited to announce the publication of our 1st ever kelp restoration peer-reviewed paper! 🎉Since our start in 2021, we've been testing scientific approaches to kelp restoration, and this paper is the culmination of a huge team effort.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Happy #PhycologyFriday🌿🌊 Watch how fast our outplanted kelp grows in only one month, providing habitat for fish at Denman Island!

8/ We also found significant differences in kelp standing stocks and productivity across coasts and kelp species.

Although Canada’s Pacific kelp forests really stand out, even lower-productivity Atlantic and Arctic kelp beds showed some potential for deep ocean export which is promising!

2/ Kelp forests are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth. They absorb carbon, support biodiversity, sustain fisheries, and bolster coastal communities.

But unlike terrestrial forests or wetlands, kelps don't store carbon in soils. So how could they offer natural climate solutions?

Exciting (?) news! #cosewic has finally assessed the state of #pycnopida as #endangered. It’s an important step to getting this species federal status and therefore protection. Pycnos are so important to BC’s marine ecosystems and kelp forests. #conservation #iucnredlist #canada #sara

Very cool! I can't make the zoom but would you send me a copy of your thesis? Sounds like very useful work!

Ocean Networks Canada hiring Chief Executive Officer in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada | LinkedIn Posted 11:14:22 PM. Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) is a world-leading, not-for-profit organization that supports ocean…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.

🌊🧪Job Alert!!! @oceannetworks.ca is looking for a Chief Executive Officer. Come join us at the University of Victoria 🇨🇦

www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/ch...

Yeah for sure, 49.624899,-126.622932 on Google maps. It's at the Nootka island lodge, I saw them post about it on Facebook haha, that's the only reason I knew to look.

Cheers to the rest of the world, it's going to be a NON-conservative government here in Canada!🥳

Sort of tough to make out in the satellite imagery, but there is a small late-season herring spawn happening out in Nootka right now. Cool to see!

Sorry😅

Currently taste testing the new kelp/blackberry sour that Herald Street Brew Works has created for the upcoming International Seaweed Symposium student/ECR night. If you haven't signed up yet I highly recommend it!

We just got back from the first field trip of the season, checking on the 1000 square meters of bull kelp outplanted in partnership with @kelprescue.bsky.social and Project Watershed.

The kelp babies are still small, but should grow fast in the coming months!

Always a treat to be back out at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre!

This will be my third field season taking a BMSC boat cross-island to the Salish Sea for our @kelprescue.bsky.social work. Updates coming soon on how our baby kelps are doing!

The Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution @csee-scee.bsky.social stands in solidarity with scientists in the U.S. Science is not a partisan issue. We all rely upon and benefit from it. Read our statement here:

Kelp Greenling are common here in the northeast Pacific & easy to take for granted

Every now and then, one will calmly watch you on a dive, allowing some time up close and personal like this, a nice reminder that there's beauty and wonder even in wildlife you've seen a thousand times

Here’s your periodic #PhycologyFriday reminder to like & pin the “Algal Awesomeness” feed. It auto-curates all sorts of great stuff, including hashtags (e.g., #PhycologyFriday) and terms (e.g., seaweed, kelp algae):

bsky.app/profile/did:...