Salish Sea Marine Survival Project

15 3. Forage Fish Beach Monitoring What is it? As noted above, forage fish are of tremendous importance to the marine food webs of the Strait of Georgia but their populations are very difficult to enumerate and monitor. Their populations display natural fluctuations in abundance as a result of natural cycles in the marine environment, but anthropogenic activities such as overfishing and habitat degradation exacerbate these fluctuations. Forage fish and their spawning habitats are protected under Section 35 of the Federal Fisheries Act but minimal data are available regarding location of forage fish spawning habitat along the coast of BC. The Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI), together with a number of partners, has implemented a citizen science program for monitoring shorelines around the Strait of Georgia (Figure 5). This builds on much of the past and current work carried out by Ramona De Graaf of the BC Shore Spawners Alliance (BCSSA). How it works MABRRI is training citizen science groups around the Strait of Georgia to identify active forage fish spawning sites through the collection of sediment samples from locations with known favourable habitat characteristics. Sites are chosen using MABRRI's existing predictive mapping for the eastern coastline of Vancouver Island, from Bowser south to Sooke, and the Gulf Islands. MABBRI analyses the samples in the lab and classifies each beach as positive, potential or negative. Beach characteristics are also recorded to test the accuracy of the predictive mapping. All data are stored in the Strait of Georgia Data Centre. (Figure 6). Figure 5. MABRRI training to assess beaches for forage fish spawning and embryonic development. Figure 6. Interactive mapping of beaches surveyed around the Strait of Georgia, with information on positive and negative beaches for surf smelt or Pacific sand lance. Figure provided by the Strait of Georgia Data Centre, www.sogdatacentre.ca. Why it's important It is critical to maintain forage fish populations in order to regenerate wild Pacific Salmon to sustainable populations. Generally, Pacific sand lance (PSL) and surf smelt use inter- tidal zones of beaches on Vancouver Island for spawning and embryonic development. The BC Land Act prevents modifications being made in areas below high tide, with exceptions made when leases or licenses are obtained. However, shoreline owners and property owners are not generally informed about locations of spawning habitat when pursuing development, rendering conservation efforts difficult. The project is allowing us to fill existing data gaps as to where and when forage fish are spawning, specifically PSL and surf smelt. Further, hosting this data in PSF's database, the Strait of Georgia Data Centre, will allow the data to be accessible to any party at all times. These data can ultimately be used to make educated decisions with regards to beaches, including potential policy and management modification that could be made to benefit the spawning activity in identified regions. Ideally the data will be consulted prior to any new coastal development, as well as any actions that could result in harm to forage fish spawning habitat.

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