Related Sites:

The Georgia Basin Action Plan

Highlights 2003 - 2008

Building Scientific and Indigenous Knowledge

We will undertake actions that:

Improve scientific understanding and share indigenous knowledge of ecosystem stresses resulting from human activity

Improve understanding of climate change impacts and adaptation

Further identify links between human health and environmental conditions

Scientific and indigenous knowledge supports improved decision-making by advancing the understanding of key ecosystem stresses. Under the GBAP, a variety of models will be developed to advance understanding on issues such as air quality and water quality. GBAP partners will also facilitate workshops and forums where research findings can be shared, and where indigenous knowledge can be integrated into future plans for the region. In this section, we highlight some examples of sharing traditional ecological knowledge, and studying ecosystem impacts and climate change.

Ecosystem Impacts

Traditional Ecological Knowledge Conferences and Workshops

Building from our first Traditional Ecological Knowledge conference in November 2003, GBAP will support ongoing dialogue with Coast Salish First Nations in the Georgia Basin and Puget Sound through a series of conferences and workshops. These dialogues will help to increase our collective knowledge of ecosystem functions and impacts in the region.

Georgia Basin POPs Loading

Environment Canada and the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Institute of Ocean Sciences have initiated a project to measure concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in air and precipitation. POPs—such as PCBs and DDT—are found in the environment worldwide, even though their use has been banned or severely restricted. While many POPs enter the Georgia Basin’s aquatic and marine ecosystems from diffuse sources like historically contaminated sediments and soils, a potentially large source is the ongoing deposition of POPs transported here by the atmosphere from other parts of the northern hemisphere. The magnitude of this will be assessed in 2005.

Working with Simon Fraser University, partners will evaluate the results with an input-output budget model, which can be used to compare the relative size of the sources, and identify where many POPs are being stored. When the budget is completed in 2006, it will be used to assess the significance of various sources to the levels seen in marine mammals, birds and fish in the Georgia Basin.

Partners: Environment Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Simon Fraser University

Critical Acid Loads from Atmospheric Deposition

Environment Canada is working to determine the threshold (critical load) above which the acids and nitrogen that settle out of the air can damage sensitive ecosystems. This atmospheric deposition can result in acidification and fertilization of lakes, streams and forests, particularly in sensitive watersheds where rocks, soils and vegetation have low capacities to neutralize acid or immobilize nitrogen. A significant proportion of the Georgia Basin is known to be highly sensitive to acidity, and the little work done in the past on deposition loadings and effects indicates that these ecosystems are at risk from episodic acidification and nitrogen saturation. Our goal is to determine how much acid and nitrogen is being deposited, and how sensitive the ecosystems are to these levels.

Partner: Environment Canada

Municipal Wastewater Impacts

Effluents from wastewater treatment plants in the Georgia Basin contain pharmaceuticals and personal health care products (PPCPs) that scientists suspect are responsible for endocrine disruption in fish and other organisms, which can affect gender, growth, development and reproduction. Environment Canada has developed a molecular tool that will allow the study of gene expression in salmonids that have been exposed to effluents and other suspect PPCPs. In early 2004, we will begin the first in a series of related studies, taking samples from Greater Vancouver Regional District and Capital Regional District wastewater treatment plants. This first study will be a full life cycle test using chinook eggs. In addition to testing various concentrations of municipal wastewater, testing will also involve fragrance compounds typically found in personalcare health products. These studies will aid in demonstrating the effects wastewater effluents could be having on organisms in the Georgia Basin. The effluents that cause gene alterations will also be analyzed for the presence of certain potentially deleterious pharmaceuticals using inhouse analytical capabilities.

Partners: Environment Canada; Greater Vancouver Regional District; Capital Regional District; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; University of Victoria; University of Western Washington

Coastal Waterbird Inventory

Waterbirds spend a significant amount of time on the Georgia Basin’s coasts, due to the region’s mild climate and extensive areas of wetlands and nearshore areas. Under the GBEI, Environment Canada, in partnership with Bird Studies Canada, led the development of a Coastal Waterbird Inventory, which aimed to monitor numbers and trends of waterbirds in the Georgia Basin, as well as the sites they use. The reason for collecting this data was to establish a framework that could be used to support their conservation. GBAP continues to support work on the inventory, so that priority areas and actions for future conservation can be identified. This will involve monitoring migratory bird populations and distribution, as well as diversity. Over the next five years, the project will engage naturalist groups to conduct regular inventories for waterfowl and other waterbird populations around the Georgia Basin’s shorelines.