Tag Archives: oceans warming

Rivers & Oceans

Baby sockeye salmon are growing faster due to climate change. Is bigger better?

Editor’s note: Most of the salmon on Cortes Island are Chum, not Sockeye, but a DFO study of scale growth measurements from the Big Qualicum River suggests Chum are also being affected by climate change. Chum salmon appear to be growing smaller ‘due to increased ocean temperatures driven by climate change‘ and also the increased competition over a diminishing number of prey. There are also reports of them relocating to more northern locations. In October 2023, a University of Alaska study revealed that 100 Chum had been found in waters emptying into the Arctic Ocean. They were ‘either actively spawning or had finished spawning.’ Lead author Peter Wesley wrote, “Throughout most parts of the salmon’s range, things have gotten too warm and they’re starting to blink off. In the Arctic, the water is getting warm enough and they’re starting to blink on.”

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Climate change has tipped the scales, causing juvenile sockeye salmon in B.C. to grow bigger over the past century. 

The growth of salmon using lakes as nurseries during the first years of life in northern B.C. is about 35 per cent higher than 100 years ago, a new study from Simon Fraser University shows. 

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Rivers & Oceans

Discovery Island Sea Snail Species Threatened By Warming Oceans

A new study found that a species of Sea Snails found on the beaches of Cortes, Quadra and neighbouring Discovery Islands is already experiencing ocean temperatures beyond their comfort zone. According to the associated UBC press release, oysters will survive as the oceans warm up, but the Nucella lamellosa might not. 

“I conducted a research study using a combination of field and lab experimental methods to answer the big question: are marine ecosystems going to be able to keep up with the rate of environmental change that they’re experiencing? We know that species can respond to ocean warming by moving, by genetically adapting, or by acclimatizing within generations. Every species is going to have a different ability to employ those strategies based on its traits,” explained Lead author Dr Fiona Beaty, from the University of British Columbia.

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Cost of Climate Change

Marine heatwaves a threat to B.C.’s shellfish industry says expert

Editor’s note: The shellfish industry is one of Cortes Island’s principle employers.

By Mick Sweetman,  CHLY 101.7 FM Nanaimo, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

This summer was hot, not only for us, but also for the life in our oceans as marine heatwaves swamped B.C’s coastal waters. According to researchers, sea temperatures off northeastern Vancouver Island reached 21 degrees Celsius in July, boiling kelp alive.

In the first week of August the average global sea surface temperature reached a record-breaking 30 degrees Celsius.

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Cost of Climate Change

The Quadra Project: Dysbiosis

Dysbiosis is a new word for our vocabulary. It has been used before to describe a health condition created by an imbalance in the gut bacteria, which causes a wide range of gastrointestinal problems. Now dysbiosis is being used to describe a variety of our environmental problems.

It’s a timely word formed from two Greek roots. The prefix “dys” denotes difficulties, abnormalities, or anything that is uneasy, unfavourable or unfortunate. The suffix, “biosis”, denotes a state of living or a mode of life. Put the two together and we have a word that describes the malfunctioning of a biological system caused by some profound imbalance.

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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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