Monitoring Eelgrass in Gulf Islands National Park Reserve
Presentation Abstract
In what habitat can you find over 90 different species of fish in British Columbia? Eelgrass meadows provide important complex structure and nursery function for young fish to grow and thrive. Since 2004, Parks Canada has monitored eelgrass fish assemblages annually in Pacific Canada’s National Parks and has developed a framework to assess their status and trend overtime. Gulf Islands National Park Reserve (GINPR) is one of three National Park Reserves, in which this monitoring framework has been implemented. The eelgrass meadows in the GINPR region of the Salish Sea are under constant threat from development, pollution and recreational activities such as anchoring. This presentation will talk about the framework through which we monitor eelgrass meadows at 12 sites in the Southern Gulf Islands in terms of the methods used and how we analyze the data to reach conclusions about the condition of meadows in our area of the Salish Sea. The talk will present some of our findings to give the audience a sense of the trends we see in fish assemblages and eelgrass plant health in Gulf Islands National Park Reserve.
Session Title
The Role of Eelgrass Ecosystems in the Salish Sea
Conference Track
Habitat
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2016 12:00 AM
End Date
2016 12:00 AM
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Zostera marina--Monitoring--British Columbia--Gulf Islands
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Gulf Islands (B.C.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Monitoring Eelgrass in Gulf Islands National Park Reserve
2016SSEC
In what habitat can you find over 90 different species of fish in British Columbia? Eelgrass meadows provide important complex structure and nursery function for young fish to grow and thrive. Since 2004, Parks Canada has monitored eelgrass fish assemblages annually in Pacific Canada’s National Parks and has developed a framework to assess their status and trend overtime. Gulf Islands National Park Reserve (GINPR) is one of three National Park Reserves, in which this monitoring framework has been implemented. The eelgrass meadows in the GINPR region of the Salish Sea are under constant threat from development, pollution and recreational activities such as anchoring. This presentation will talk about the framework through which we monitor eelgrass meadows at 12 sites in the Southern Gulf Islands in terms of the methods used and how we analyze the data to reach conclusions about the condition of meadows in our area of the Salish Sea. The talk will present some of our findings to give the audience a sense of the trends we see in fish assemblages and eelgrass plant health in Gulf Islands National Park Reserve.
