Kelp Habitat Suitability/ Kelp Use By Salmon
Project Lead: Dr. Romina Barbosa
Project Location: Broughton Archipelago
Contact:
Project Overview
Photo: A day on the water conducting kelp presence and abundance surveys
PC:
Kelp ecosystems hold high biodiversity and provide habitat, food and refuge for several economically and ecologically important species such as Pacific salmon. The communities inhabiting the traditional territories of the Mamalilikulla, ‘Na̱mg̱is, and Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nations, now known as the Broughton Archipelago (near northern Vancouver Island), have observed declines in kelp forests over the past several decades. These observations are concerning, given the importance of kelp habitats, and are consistent with observed declines in other areas around Vancouver Island and the rest of the world. At the same time, salmon populations have experienced strong declines in the area during the last decade. In collaboration with Mamalilikulla, ‘Namgis, and Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nations, the Broughton Aquaculture Transition Initiative (BATI), the Salmon Coast Field Station and the Spectral Lab (UVic), we identify the environmental conditions that determine the distribution and enhance the development of kelp forests in the Broughton Archipelago, and assess how juvenile salmon use kelp forests as habitat.
Goals and Objectives
Through this collaboration, we aim to study kelp forests and associated biodiversity in the Broughton Archipelago through 4 main objectives:
1) Evaluate current kelp forest conditions, including kelp cover and sea urchin density, and the environmental variability along the Archipelago (including temperature, salinity, and nutrients).
2) Evaluate the health condition of Nereocystis luetkeana along the heterogeneous conditions in the inlets by measuring growth rates.
3) Develop a species distribution model to identify suitable areas for kelp forests
4) Evaluate kelp habitat use by juvenile Salmon along their migration route in the inlets.
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Our results will increase the ability of First Nations and other managers to meaningfully include kelp forests in ongoing marine spatial planning processes. Furthermore, determining how kelp forests support juvenile salmon through their outmigration provides important evidence that conserving and enhancing kelp forest habitat can increase the success of Pacific salmon population-restoring efforts.
Photo: A KRI mooring deployed in the Broughton Archipelago in 2023
PC: Clay Steell
Project Methods
Photo: A birds-eye view of kelp surveys in the Broughton Archipelago
PC:
The Kelp Rescue Initiative has been performing fieldwork with Salmon Coast Field Station, BATI and the Spectral lab at several focal sites along the Broughton Archipelago. Study methods include drone surveys, ROV video transects and water condition measurements. Drone images are used to determine and map the kelp-covered area. ROV video transects allow us to acquire images and estimate the density of sea urchins. Finally, water condition measurements, including temperature, salinity, and nutrient availability, will enable us to evaluate the variable conditions among inlets and compare habitat suitability across inlets and the more open and exposed areas. Furthermore, we surveyed several kelp individuals' growth during the spring and summer of 2023 to assess bull kelp's health state.
To determine the use of kelp habitat by juvenile salmon, we performed fieldwork with SCFS during the spring and summer of 2023 to recorded the presence and preference of juvenile salmon in areas with and without kelp. In addition, we installed 8 monitoring buoys to monitor the temporal variability in water temperature, salinity, and light availability during 2023 at contrasting areas.
2022
Spring
2022
Summer
2023
Spring / Summer
2023
Summer
2024
Summer
2024
Fall/Winter
Project Start
Video Surveys and Water Quality Work
Salmon Field Surveys
Mooring Buoy Installation, Video/Water Quality Surveys,
Kelp Measurements
Video/Water Quality Surveys
Data Analysis and Writeup