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Care of the Gorge Program
A water quality monitoring program on the Gorge Waterway
This dynamic program provides an opportunity for students to learn about their local watershed through a combination of hands-on activities and technology, with support from biologists from the Gorge Waterway Education Centre and students from Camosun College Environmental Technology Program. The program focuses on the marine and freshwater ecosystems of the Gorge Waterway and Portage Inlet, helping students identify problems facing this heavily impacted urban watercourse and learning ways these can be mitigated. High school and middle school students and other program participants learn to actively monitor the water quality and aquatic life in Gorge Creek and at several sites around the Gorge and Portage Inlet. They have the opportunity to learn techniques and use instruments that field biologists use to conduct environmental monitoring. Students will analyze the data they and others in the program have collected, and look for trends over time. They can use this information to make predictions about seasonal trends, and recommendations about ways to improve the health of their urban watersheds. Results will be posted on the Gorge Waterway Education Centre website. Repeat visits are recommended for students to make observations and record data over a period of time.
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Seaquaria Educational Resource Centre
WFT has joined the Seaquaria program, created and run by WestWind SeaLab Supplies, which brings local marine
ecosystems into schools through permanent aquaria and
curriculum-linked programming. The program does an exceptional job of
fostering environmental awareness, engagement, respect and
stewardship, while optimizing joint multi-disciplinary learning of teachers,
students, and the community. The goal of the
program is to help build a society that cares about the environment
both emotionally and in practice, and to provide the basis for
enduring learning skills in a changing world.
WestWind has been running the program for over 9 years and more than 23 schools and community centres are currently involved.
Field components and liaison with other education programs have been built by WestWind through collaboration with teachers and the SeaChange Marine Conservation Society.
The current project will build teaching resource materials and create an environmental education network to enable the broader application and development of the Seaquaria program and foster its integration with other related environmental education programs. A workshop with teachers and facilitators was held at Tillicum Elementary School in August of 2007 to introduce resources, and facilitate their use and testing.
For more information on this program:
Project partners include: WestWind SeaLab Supplies, SeaChange Marine Conservation Society, Tillicum Elementary School, Watership Foundation, Fisheries & Oceans Canada, Stream Team, and the UVic Pacific CRYSTAL Project.
The project is funded by the Victoria Foundation.
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Past:
Pacific Leatherback Turtle Recovery Plan (2003)
With the coming into force of the new Canadian Species at Risk Act, Rescue Strategies and Action Plans are being prepared for all Canadian species designated as endangered.
The leatherback is the world's largest sea turtle. The Pacific Leatherback turtle makes annual feeding migrations from nesting beaches in Southeast Asia all the way to Coastal British Columbia, and WFT was part of the Recovery Team, which developed a rescue strategy for this remarkable animal.
Click here to view the Pacific Leatherback Turtle National Recovery Strategy and Action Plan on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada website.
Other marine turtle links:
Seaturtle.org
Turtle Trax
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Sevice - Leatherback sea turtle
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS)
WWF-Guianas
The project was funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
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Kennedy Lake Welcome Sign (2003)
Click here to view a close-up of the sign.
For visitors to Clayoquot Sound, Kennedy Lake is still something of a secret. The role of the watershed in providing salmon for region probably doesn't occurs to most visitors. Neither does the history of the watershed, the former greatness of the Clayoquot fishery or the efforts of many groups to study the system and bring the fishery back.
WFT launched a public awareness campaign centred on the Kennedy watershed and its significance to Clayoquot Sound and its people. In early 2003 the project unveiled the Kennedy Lake Welcome Sign on Highway 4.
Partners in the project were: Regional Aquatic Management Society, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, Hupacasath First Nation, Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, Ucluelet Chamber of Commerce, Parks Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and BC Ministry of Highways.
The project was funded by the Vancouver Foundation, Fisheries Renewal BC, Weyerhaeuser Ltd. and the Vancouver Aquarium Foundation.
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Salmon Genetic Conservation (2003)
There's enormous genetic variety in salmon stocks, and all of it is important. Our ability to rebuild stocks depends on saving that variety.
When salmon numbers get low, genetic variety begins to disappear, and even if we manage to "turn around" all the other factors causing the decline, we still risk losing the stock. That's when fisheries managers turn to gene banking, a way of preserving genetic variety before it disappears, and making sure it's there for later rebuilding.
WFT is a world leader in fish genetic conservation. Projects include:
- First Nations Salmon Gene Banking: training and fieldwork for the Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council, Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, Shuswap Nation Fisheries Commission and the Musqueam Indian Band.
- Salmon Gene Banking for DFO: field genetic conservation training, and management of sample inventory.
- Rivers Inlet Chinook Project: gene banking services for a local partnership that's rebuilding chinook stocks in Rivers Inlet, B.C. The gene bank is part of the project's captive breeding program.
Funded by Fisheries Renewal BC, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Pacific Salmon Foundation, and Oak Bay Marine Group.
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Salmon in the Flight Path Interpretive Exhibit (2000)
Click here for pdf version and more pictures.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Wsikem First Nation and the Victoria Airport Authority were working to rebuild salmon runs near the airport, knowing that local streams traditionally provided food for native communities. They needed to get the public interested in thier efforts, but salmon restoration is technical and not intrinsically compelling. How would they tell their story?
WFT found the solution by reducing the details of stream restoration to a few principles and put them on a full-scale mockup of an aircraft tail, complete with flashing lights. SALMON IN THE FLIGHT PATH was installed at the Victoria International Airport Main Terminal for two years. During that time, 1.5 million travelers per year were educated about urban streams and the sponsor's part in protecting them.
To further educate kids, WFT created a flying salmon kit (SKYFISH) and gave these away to children on arriving flights.
WFT's design partner for the project was Imagecraft Studio Limited, of Victoria.
The exhibit was funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Victoria Airport Authority and World Fisheries Trust.
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A Genetic Blueprint for Rebuilding Clayoquot Sockeye Salmon (1996-2000)
Sockeye salmon used to be the mainstay of the fishery in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia, a region nominated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The fishery collapsed in the 1970s.
If Clayoquot sockeye are to be rebuilt, managers need to understand how each stock is related to all the others. Between 1996 and 2000, WFT worked with local partners to create a "family tree" for Clayoquot sockeye stocks, using the new tool of DNA fingerprinting. The genetic relationships we discovered are now avaiable for managers and community groups developing enhancement plans for the stocks.The project was featured in the Pacific Canada exhibit at the Vancouver Aquarium in 2001.
For more information on this project, please view the March 1999 issue of WorldFish News.
The project was funded by MacMillan Bloedel Limited, Forest Renewal B.C. and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
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Counting Salmon at Kirby Creek (1997-1999)
How do you tell how many salmon are out there? One way is to count how many are caught. But to manage salmon properly, you also need to know how many are going up the river to spawn. For that, you need a counting fence.
WFT teamed up with local partners to build a counting fence in Kirby Creek, a coho-producing stream in Sooke, British Columbia. The fence was operated by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and local groups to help monitor the health of local stocks until 2003.
For more information on this project, please view the February 1998 issue of Worldfish News.
The project was funded by the Canada Trust Friends of the Environment Foundation, the Shell Environmental Fund, Western Forest Products Ltd., Scott Plastics Ltd. and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
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Up The CreekTM Board Game (1998)
Salmon are particularly important to the coastal economy, culture and ecosystems of BC. However, many salmon stocks are dwindling drastically, in a large part due to things humans are doing. Salmon are particularly sensitive to these impacts, as they depend on a variety of different environments during their migration. As such, they are exceptional indicators of intertwined oceanic, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems. Turning the tide on disappearing salmon requires changes in human behaviour, and a large part of creating this change is education, engagement, and action.
WFT developed Up The CreekT to engage players (ages 12 - adult) in the life of salmon and what they experience during their migration. Up The CreekT takes players into the dangerous world of six real-life British Columbia salmon runs: Dean River steelhead, Chilko River chinook, Morice River pink, Kitimat River coho, Skeena River chum, and Bowron River sockeye. As one of these runs, the goal is simple: avoid extinction. To do so, players have plenty of hazards waiting for them. The hazards are real, because Up The CreekT was developed with help from real fisheries biologists, fishermen and First Nations.
Since 1998, WFT has sold or donated 1,000 game throughout North America and the world. An eight-page Teachers' Guide, sponsored by BC Hydro, was produced by WFT in 2000 and was distributed free with the game.
The game is now out of stock but WFT is developing a project to revise and reprint the game. Please stay tuned!
The project was funded by the Vancouver Foundation, Thrifty Foods, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the BC Ministry of Fisheries, and the MacLean Foundation.
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Cultus Lake Recovery Strategy (2004)
Brian Harvey writer and editor. Funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Taking Salmon Stewardship Review (2003-2004)
Report for Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council. Funded by the Vancouver Foundation.
Finalization of the Pacific Leatherback Turtle Recovery Strategy and Action Plan (2002-2003)
Brian Harvey writer and editor. Funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Ghost Runs: The Future of Wild Salmon on the North and Central Coasts of British Columbia (2002)
Brian Harvey editor. Funded by the Raincoast Conservation Society.
Ahousaht Nation Clam Farm Study (2002)
Funded by the Ahousaht Nation.
Salmon Aquaculture Review: Summary of Environmental Issues with Relevance to Blackcod Aquaculture (1999)
Funded by the Pacific Coast Blackcod Fishermen's Association.
Stock of BC Salmon with Science and Technology (1997)
Interactive display at Vancouver Aquarium's Science and Technology Week October 17 - 26, 1997. Funded by the Vancouver Aquarium.
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