Tag Archives: Kelp Forests

Cost of Climate Change, Rivers & Oceans

50 years of data reveals true extent of climate change impacts on kelp forests

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Originally published on UVic News

New research from the University of Victoria (UVic) has found that some kelp forests around Vancouver Island were disappearing far earlier than scientists previously thought, highlighting that climate change has been altering our ecosystems long before most people were aware anything was wrong.

“Most research has focused on recent kelp forest losses resulting from well-known marine heatwaves, like the record-breaking ‘Blob’ heatwave that hit our coast a decade ago,” says Brian Timmer, a UVic PhD student, National Geographic Explorer and lead author of the study, recently published in Ecological Applications.

“These recent changes to our kelp forests have been intense. But our research shows that some areas of the BC coast have been warming much faster than the global average, and associated kelp declines began decades ago. We’ve been underestimating the magnitude of ocean-warming impacts for years.” —Chris Neufeld, co-author and senior aquatic ecology at LGL Limited

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Environment

New funding expands Project Watershed’s vision for coastal restoration

Editor’s note: The subject of marine restoration is of importance and Cortes Currents has FM listeners in the area between Oyster Bay and Fanny Bay.

By Madeline Dunnett, The Discourse,  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Recent funding boosts will allow the Comox Valley Project Watershed Society to implement an expanded vision for the restoration of marine habitats from Oyster Bay to Fanny Bay.

Project Watershed will receive $1.5 million through the Aquatic Ecosystems Restoration Fund. The funding will be given out over the next four years and will support the restoration and enhancement of local marine systems. The group will work to restore tidal marshes, eelgrass beds, kelp forests and critical salmon habitat.

Alongside this, Project Watershed will be receiving some funding from BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (SRIF), which is set to be announced later this week.

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Rivers & Oceans

The ocean’s kelp forests are worth serious coin

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Underwater forests represent an average of $500 billion annually in benefits to commercial fisheries, ocean pollution removal and carbon absorption, a new international study shows.

The study is the first to examine the value of kelp’s ocean canopies — found along a third of the world’s shores and on all three of Canada’s coasts, said Canadian co-author Margot Hessing-Lewis, a researcher with the Hakai Institute and the University of British Columbia. 

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Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Kelp forests, foundational to coastal ecosystems and Nuu-chah-nulth culture, are at risk

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Thriving in cool water temperatures, kelp forests cover over a quarter of the world’s coastlines, with Canada having the longest, says Marissa Ng, Seaforestation Project Coordinator for Ocean Wise. 

Of Canada’s 243,042-kilometre long coastline, British Columbia makes up 25,725.

“In the Pacific Northwest, kelp forests are a foundation species. Similar to salmon, they’re important for the health of the coastal ecosystem,” said Ng. “They’re also foundation species because they’re so abundant up and down the coast and much like forests on land, marine forests – kelp forest – they provide food and shelter for thousands of marine species.”

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