Tag Archives: Project Watershed

The Pacific Herring Spawn and Nurseries Project

A citizen scientist project to photograph Pacific herring spawn along the West Coast, from Alaska down to California, has been underway for close to two months. It is based in the Comox-Courtenay area, and one of its many partners is the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI).

Project lead Jacqueline Huard, a scientist with Project Watershed,  explained, “I work with the Coastal Forage Fish Network. We are very community scientist based and working on a herring project in iNaturalist just was a natural fit for us. I wanted to encourage the folks that we work with to put their data somewhere where they could also access it. The goal is twofold, both to collect some data and address a gap, but also to get it out to the public and have a publicly available data set for the public created by community scientists.”

Continue reading The Pacific Herring Spawn and Nurseries Project

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.

Continue reading New funding expands Project Watershed’s vision for coastal restoration