Ocean Wise Canada - Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound

Restoration Project

Ocean Wise Canada - Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound

Restoration Objective:

Ocean Wise is working with the Marine Stewardship Initiative, the Squamish Nation, and Keystone Environmental to restore sugar kelp beds in Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound. Herring spawn has been observed on sugar kelp in the sound. Ocean Wise is growing sugar kelp green gravel on various substrates to plant within the Squamish Nation traditional territory to provide spawning habitat for Pacific herring. Learning from our previous nursery outplanting where the substrate was too light, we have grown sugar kelp on large cobbles and small boulders in an attempt to get the green gravel to remain at the restoration site.

Site Selection Criteria:

Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound was chosen based on the proximity to Ocean Wise's kelp nursery, as well as, the presence of sugar kelp. Our specific restoration site is near Furry Creek and was chosen based on appropriate substrate and presense of sugar kelp.

Organisation:

Ocean Wise Canada

Site Observations:

Observation Date

8th Nov 2024 – 8th Nov 2024

Action Summary:

Ocean Wise went out to complete a field site assessment. We had chosen 4 sites to evaluate based off of our desktop review. One site was of particular interest to us and the Squamish Nation. Kwum Kwum (the Defense Islands) means "place with lots of kelp" in the Squamish language. It was not known if kelp still persisted around these islands but we were interested to see what was there and determine if we could focus our restoration efforts in this area.

Lessons Learned:

When we put the ROV under the water, we saw that Kwum Kwum had shifted into a green urchin barren state. Unfortunately, this meant that we would not focus restoration efforts in this area until the urchin barren could be addressed.

Project Outcomes:

ROV surveys gave us more data regarding the state of Howe Sound sugar kelp beds.

Nature of Disturbance:

Green urchins are abundance in certain areas of Howe Sound
urchin barren, loss of sunflower stars

Key Reasons For Decline:

Predator loss

Indicator Data:

Observation Date

8th Jan 2025 – 8th Jan 2025

Action Summary:

Ocean Wise, Marine Stewardship Initiative, and Squamish Nation went out to the restoration site in Furry Creek to plant our nursery-grown sugar kelp. The kelp was grown on large cobbles/small boulders to see if this helps the green gravel remain at the restoration site and give it a chance for recruitment. We mapped out approximately a hectare of ocean with a depth of approximately 1 m to 20 m. We then zigzagged the boat through the polygon while releasing the green gravel off the back of the boat.

Lessons Learned:

Howe Sound has unpredictable weather conditions and we had to be very flexible with transplant dates. We had to reschedule multiple times which resulted in us having to transplant prior to collecting baseline data.

Project Outcomes:

Transplanting was successful and we look forward to montioring kelp growth in Spring 2025.

Area of Restoration (Ha)

1

Indicator Data:

Observation Date

14th Jan 2025 – 14th Jan 2025

Action Summary:

Baseline data was collected by Keystone Environmental scientific divers.

Lessons Learned:

Setting the monitoring transects after planting may make it difficult to find our nursery grown kelp under the water. Scuba divers can provide a more detailed picture of the site than using the ROV, but it is much more expensive without in-kind support from partners

Project Outcomes:

This data will provide a comparison of which to measure success.

Area of Restoration (Ha)

1

Indicator Data:

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