An initiative whose goal is to build capacity to protect the diverse economic, ecological, cultural, and social values associated with Átl’ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound's ocean and freshwater. The Initiative has created a centralized interactive map that pulls together information about the Sound's ocean to support informed decision-making, collaborative management, marine spatial planning, and community education.
ShoreZone takes a close-up inventory of the biology and geology of North America’s Pacific coast from Oregon to Alaska and in-between. People use the coastal data, imagery, and maps to manage the coast for the benefit of the many animals and plants, people and industries who depend on it. ShoreZone’s baseline data improves our ability to understand, respond to, and plan for the dynamic coastal changes taking place in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska – changes such as increasing storm frequency and coastal erosion, projected increases in shipping traffic, and offshore oil and gas development. With ShoreZone coastal managers have access to data to support planning and response efforts. Dozens of partners are helping to make millions of photos, video, maps, and digital habitat data available online to the public for free.
Compliance is a key factor in ensuring success of marine conservation. We describe a community–academic partnership that seeks to reduce non-compliance of recreational fishers with Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs) around Galiano Island in British Columbia, Canada. Previous work showed mostly unintentional non-compliance by recreational fishers. From 2015 to 2018 we developed and implemented outreach and public education activities. We distributed information at community events, and installed 46 metal signs with maps of nearby RCAs at marinas, ferry terminals, and boat launches. During the summers of 2015, 2017, and 2018, we interviewed 86 recreational fishers to gauge their compliance with RCAs. Compared with a baseline in 2014, there was a reduction of 22% (from 25 to 3%) of people who unintentionally fished in RCAs with prohibited gears. In 2018, 67% of participants had seen our outreach materials. We used trail cameras overlooking RCAs to assess non-compliance in six locations on Galiano Island. Illegal fishing incidents within RCAs declined from 42% of days monitored in 2014 to 14% in 2018. Although our outreach efforts were limited in scale and scope, they appear to be making a difference. Our activities and findings can provide guidance for other regions seeking to improve compliance by recreational fishers.
The Integrated Coastal Observatory (ICO) is a coordinated network of partners along the coast of British Columbia who are using environmental DNA (eDNA) to monitor marine biodiversity. Environmental DNA samples from seawater are collected monthly to track the diversity of fish present at each site. The resulting data provide an important tool for monitoring changes in diversity over broad spatial and temporal scales. Long-term eDNA-based monitoring in coastal BC will help us to measure ecosystem health and track the impacts of climate change and other disturbances on marine biodiversity.
As part of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, Hakai Institute has launched Sentinels of Change - a decade-long community-centered initiative investigating patterns of invertebrate biodiversity, change, and resilience across the Salish Sea. The project establishes a network of community partners to work together to observe and investigate patterns of invertebrate reproduction and recruitment within this complex and dynamic natural and social seascape.
We aim to provide a synoptic assessment of seagrass-associated fish distributions along the Pacific coast, and determine a subset of fish species for which biogeography can be determined using eDNA metabarcoding. We aim to produce a highly-replicated assessment of seagrass community structure for answering questions about community assembly against predictors, and assess climate sensitivity based on species distributions and observed responses. We also aim to demonstrate feasibility and a community of practice for large-scale partnered multi-national environmental DNA observatory. We aim to follow FAIR guidelines for data sharing and to share protocols for others to join in and increase our monitoring power.
HI-BON is a highly coordinated network of partners across British Columbia, Canada who are using long-term genetic-based assessments of marine biodiversity to create baselines, track changes through time, and provide local-scale biodiversity data in remote areas. The taxonomic focus of this research is broad, with core initiatives quantifying the diversity of fish, invertebrates, and microbes. Biomolecular sampling began at the Hakai Institute in November 2014 and has now grown to a large-network of over 20 partners collecting monthly samples across the BC coast.
Although eelgrass is well studied worldwide, there is little research that investigates the epiphytic microbes on leaf surfaces. Using scanning electron microscopy, we are mapping the surface of eelgrass leaves to visualize the spatial patterns and potential interactions of bacteria, fungi, and diatoms along the surface of the leaf. Additionally, we are cataloging bacterial, fungal, and diatom community diversity on eelgrass leaves, and looking at how diversity changes over time.
IMERSS’ biodiversity informatics program is a collaboration among computer scientists and ecologists working to advance open-source technologies that support a community-based approach to biodiversity research and monitoring. Through our diverse projects, we are bootstrapping development of a biodiversity informatics framework, to support our vision of creating a bioregional atlas for the Salish Sea.
This project aims to establish an updated taxonomic inventory of diatoms known to the Salish Sea, including detailed descriptions, discussions, observations and references. We apply light microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to determine species based on key taxonomic features. To extend this work, we are also exploring the application of third-generation molecular sequencing technology to barcode diatoms and promote community access to genomics research.
The Mayne Island Conservancy has been mapping and monitoring the extent of eelgrass around the shores of Mayne Island, as well as additional select locations throughout the Southern Gulf Islands, since 2009. The surveys are completed by a team of two freedivers, who direct a third team member in a kayak to the edge of the eelgrass bed, where they record waypoints with a GPS. Waypoints are taken every 3-5m around the perimeter of the eelgrass bed, and then the shape of the bed is drawn by connecting the waypoints. The data is freely available to the public.
The Mayne Conservancy has been mapping and monitoring bull kelp annually around the shores of Mayne Island since 2010. In 2019 the monitoring program expanded to include monitoring sites from Valdes to Saturna, in what is now known as the Southern Gulf Islands Regional Bull Kelp Monitoring Collaborative. The annual surveys are completed by staff and volunteers from five organizations. Surveyors travel by kayak to record the sea surface extent of bull kelp at low tide using a GPS. The data is sent to the Mayne Island Conservancy who maintain a geodatabase. The database is freely available to the public.
Parks Canada is committed to maintaining the health of our protected areas. One of the ways we honour this commitment is by monitoring the various species within Gulf Islands National Park Reserve through a process called Ecological Integrity Monitoring. We monitor both plants and animals for changes to their natural habits, and adapt new measures to help ensure a healthy ecosystem.
Green Shores provides options and tools for a wide range of planning, design and construction professionals and landowners who are interested in minimizing the environmental impacts of their projects in a cost-effective manner. For homeowners and communities, the stories, resources and examples presented here can inspire you to make choices that will be beneficial to everyone in the long term.
The Puget Sound Nutrient Source Reduction Project is a collaborative effort with Puget Sound communities, Tribes, and stakeholders to address human sources of nutrients. We meet regularly with the Nutrient Forum to discuss and use the latest science to find the right solutions for regional investments to reduce nutrient sources. Our objective is to improve Puget Sound water quality to support salmon and orca recovery and increase resiliency to climate impacts.
The Salish Sea Model was developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in collaboration with scientists within our Environmental Assessment Program. The model is a powerful computerized tool that has algorithms within it to simulate hydrodynamic and water quality processes. We have invested several years of time and research into developing and applying the model and will soon use it to help guide management actions that are needed to protect water quality in Puget Sound. Model scenarios can be run to evaluate the relative effect of current, anthropogenic, and potential future nutrient loads on dissolved oxygen and acidification levels in the Salish Sea.