Quinn Bender, Local Journalism Initiative A Pacific great blue heron preys on a juvenile salmon in B.C.'s Cowichan Bay. A new study out of UBC suggests the birds removed between three and six per cent of the young fish every year from the Salish Sea region. Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Robert Stenseth March 15, 2021 - 8:00 PM It appears Pacific great blue herons have a much larger appetite for juvenile salmon than previously understood, potentially raising the complexity of salmon recovery strategies in B.C. A new study out of UBC shows the birds are annually removing three per cent of the young fish heading to the Salish Sea. During years of low water flows predation can shoot up to to six per cent.