2022 Christmas Letter from the Chair
Christmas Letter from the Chair with past year’s reflections.
Dear CERCA members and friends of the Cowichan Estuary,
Before I summarize CERCA's activity highlights of the past year I would like to draw your attention to an issue prominently figuring on the agenda of the global biodiversity conference currently held in Montreal and ending today. It appears to be the first time that the dramatic decline of global biodiversity and the alarming rate of species extinction has caught the international attention it deserves. So far the issue of climate change has dominated world concerns although the issue of biodiversity loss that is only partly influenced by climate change is of equal concern. The question of how to best showcase what to expect if the trend of biodiversity loss continues has been at the forefront at the Montreal World Biodiversity Conference.
Within this context, it is interesting to note that 'Learn to count with nature' has become one of the important mottos of the Conference. This is a topic that CERCA repeatedly addressed at past symposia, at board meetings, and more recently in our focus on the impacts of light pollution on pollinating insects. It is about the 'goods and services' produced by functioning ecosystems --free of charge (!), an opportunity the world has not capitalized upon yet. The purists amongst us refuse to attach monetary values to nature's goods and services for a good reason since nature should be protected unconditionally, it is our habitat after all which we should not destroy. The protagonists on the other hand recognize the opportunity to catch the attention of decision-makers by measuring goods and services delivered by functioning ecosystems in hard currency.
More than half of the global gross domestic product depends on nature, i.e. on, stable ecosystems. This was determined in a study by the Davos World Economic Forum 2020. According to this, many economic sectors are dependent on good water quality, sustainably managed forests, functioning pollination, or the control of pathogens through nature.
It has been demonstrated that when natural systems are destroyed, the construction sector is hit hardest, followed by agriculture and the food and beverage industry. Experts estimate that by 2030 the collapse of ecosystems, such as the loss of pollinators in the agricultural sector or of fish stocks, could cause global economic output to fall by billions of Dollars. At this Conference, the problem was recognized and hotly debated. The international initiative 'Business for Nature Coalition' has put pressure on governments to record the economic data of biodiversity and ecosystem services at the national level and to include them in all sectors in decisions for a sustainable economy. This is one of the goals being negotiated at this summit called "Cop 15". Make it mandatory is the call signed by over 330 companies from over 50 countries.
'There is no economy and no business on a dead planet', said the executive director of the Swiss-based association. Therefore, governments must adopt an ambitious agreement that offers political certainty and requires a contribution from companies.
An international task force for the nature-related disclosure of financial data, founded in 2020, also wants to advance the topic. The task force, which brings together industry, companies, international organizations, and Think Tanks, is working on a globally applicable framework for managing the risks and opportunities presented by the inclusion of natural capital. Its recommendations are expected to be available by autumn of next year.
At the conference, it was repeatedly emphasized that more and more companies and financial institutions are recognizing the importance of measures to protect nature and biodiversity. The Montreal Summit is set to be a turning point in humanity's relationship with nature. To achieve that, it must usher in fundamental changes in the way the economy works. This is our hope for the future.
As for the rest of the "Cop-15" summit, there remains a lot to be discussed. For example, the requested 30% of terrestrial and marine ecosystems to be protected which may be a step in the right direction but is still much too vague to be applicable. As it stands now 30% of terrestrial protected areas also include sustainably managed agriculture and forestry, and allow other 'soft resource uses' in protected areas, such as biosphere reserves and other conservation categories. For this stipulation to have teeth it needs a 'hands-off' policy to be applied to all protection categories, and strict control and enforcement. In many countries, especially industrialized nations characterized by cultural landscapes, it is not possible to find 30% of intact ecosystems. It, therefore, appears to be even more important to strictly protect any fragment of still intact ecosystems left.
Since 30% of marine ecosystems are also meant to be protected, do we have a chance to include our estuaries, the most threatened marine ecosystems there are? We now may have another chance to convince the DFO and the Province to look at the Cowichan Estuary through this lens.
Another laudable consensus decision by the 200 participating nations of the Summit is the request for the rehabilitation of disturbed and damaged ecosystems to be included in the 30% protected areas. Lots of opportunities and lots to be done.
Locally it may encourage us to lean on the CVRD and North Cowichan to declare our "sacred mountains" off-use, and to be serious about the proposed ecological corridors. Issues we may want to include in our 2023 activity program.
CERCA 2022
Photo by CERCA member B. Anderson
As in the past year, the ongoing covid-19 epidemic caused CERCA to confine most interactions such as Board meetings to online discussions. Some of our outdoor projects however continued as scheduled, in compliance with our 2022 work program:
https://www.cowichanestuary.com/2022/02/
Blue Carbon Project: This project was completed, ending with the successful thesis defense by Tristan Douglas who used this project for his MSc degree, and a peer-reviewed article published in 2022 in a well reputable scientific journal. However, in cooperation with Bernhard Juurlink and Tristan, we decided to re-address the controversial issue of carbon sequestration by shellfish in the estuary using our inventory data on oysters and barnacles collected within our estuary habitat mapping process. We are currently in the process of analyzing the data to be used for another scientific peer-reviewed article. If the findings prove that there is net carbon sequestered by shells of the two species it would substantially increase the carbon sequestration estimate of the Cowichan Estuary over and above carbon sequestered by salt marshes, eelgrass, and the biofilm of the inter-tidal flats.
The carbon project caught the attention of major newspapers and radio stations in Canada, including CBC which intends to produce a documentary on this issue early next year with a focus on our work in the Cowichan Estuary, good advertising for CERCA!
https://www.cowichanestuary.com/cowichan-estuary-blue-carbon-research-results-going-viral/
Microplastics Project: Following the successful completion of Phase I of the microplastic project in 2021which culminated in a peer-reviewed publication in 2022, CERCA in cooperation with the senior research scientists Juan Jose Alava from UBC and Leah Bendell from Simon Fraser University decided to expand the scope of the study in a follow-up Phase II. This includes expanding the sample size of Phase I in the Cowichan Estuary, taking upstream samples of the Cowichan estuary tributaries to identify point source pollution, and most important to include a second estuary for comparison.
Microplastics are arguably one of the greatest anthropogenic challenges now facing terrestrial and aquatic environments. Coastal and estuarine environments in particular often contain the highest levels of microplastics from upstream sources and floodplain settlements. Tidal activity, high water, and turbidity accelerate the breakdown of microplastics into smaller micro fragments, except for microfibers. As our understanding of the prevalence of microplastics and their impacts on marine-coastal ecosystems and the species that inhabit them grows, it is becoming increasingly important to assess risks to local wildlife and the food chain.
Phase I of the study demonstrated the presence of micro-plastics, including HDPE and PP within the Cowichan Estuary, setting the groundwork for PHASE II, an assessment of the risk micro-plastics present to estuarine food webs. CERCA has partnered with Project Watershed active in the K'omoks estuary for the work at the K'omoks watershed. We propose a “twinned” approach where two estuaries (i.e. Cowichan and K'omoks estuaries) will be sampled and assessed for the presence/absence of MP in water, sediment, crustaceans, and fish. This twinned approach will provide a comparison of sources and behavior of MPs within ecologically and biologically sensitive ecosystems. Project Watershed is closely cooperating with the K'omoks First Nation. The project has been approved by the KFN Chief and Council.
An important data gap the proposed project will address is the potential for the ingestion of MPs by fish that inhabit the intertidal sediment/water interface for some part of their life cycle. While some studies have addressed the uptake of MPs by fish (e.g., herring), existing studies are pelagic and have focused on microfibers. The unknown is the potential for the uptake of micro-beads and micro fragments by fish that reside within the sediment/water interface of the intertidal. Examples are the sand lance as well as the fry and smolt stage of Pacific Salmon species. CERCA has also partnered with the BC Conservation Foundation which will contribute samples of forage fish and salmon from both estuaries. Research supervisors will be Dr. Leah Bendell from Simon Fraser University and Dr. Juan Jose Alava Saltos from UBC.
Meanwhile, we have received a two-year Postdoc Mitacs fellowship for Phase II allocated to the successful candidate Zeinab Zoveidadianpour who started her work by mid-November 2021, processing samples of varnish clams and sediments taken from both estuaries by Leah Bendell in early October.
Although CERCA and Project Watershed will provide substantial in-kind contributions to Phase II, the project is still short of funds to cover costly lab work and the financial counterpart contributions to be made by CERCA for the Mitacs fellowships.
To provide us with more financial flexibility for Phase II, I just submitted a funding proposal to the DFO which hopefully will be approved in January 2023. This project is expected to constitute one of CERCA's major activities in 2023. We received support letters from the Cowichan Tribes, the Cowichan Watershed Board, DFO stock assessment, the BC Conservation Foundation, the BC Wildlife Federation, the CVRD, and the Municipality of North Cowichan.
Forage Fish Habitat Monitoring: Bill Heath who is spearheading CERCA's involvement in MABRII's forage fish inventory and monitoring program continued to monitor beaches north of the Westcan terminal, Cherry Point, and Maple Bay in 2021. As in the previous year, he worked with students from Cowichan Secondary School. The cooperation agreement with the school forms part of CERCA's extension and public education efforts related to several of our Citizen Science Projects. This also involved hosting five Intern students from the School assisting CERCA in other field activities until the end of June. Monitoring will continue throughout the winter of 2021 and the coming year.
http://www.cowichanestuary.com/forage-fish-spawning-habitat-monitoring/
Dungeness crab larvae monitoring: In 2021 Bill started another Citizen Science Project on behalf of CERCA initiated by the Hakai Institute. Operating the light trap set at the dock of the Maritime Museum in Cowichan Bay Village took place between June and August. This was done in cooperation with the Estuary Nature Center, the Cowichan Valley Naturalists, and the Interns from Cowichan Secondary School. More information on this project is provided by an article by our member Steve Nazar published on CERCA's website:
https://www.cowichanestuary.com/dungeness-crab-larvae-monitoring-in-the-cowichan-estuary/
Bat Monitoring: Based on 'Lessons learned' from the 2021 season (see link 1) implemented on a trial basis, the CERCA Board decided to continue with this most exciting and interesting Citizen Science Project in 2022 on a larger scale. CERCA added three additional Echometers in 2022, one donated by Steve Nazar, one purchased by CERCA, and the third bought by Bernie Juurlink. For this year's season, we simplified the recording template. By sharing the five gadgets allocated to each location for 2 weeks/month we were able to double the strategically selected locations in the Cowichan Valley. At each location, six nights/per month with clear skies were chosen from June to November for the bat recordings resulting in an impressive amount of data.
At several locations, all 16 species known to occur in BC were found. The data are currently being processed and analyzed by our member Cliff Stainsby. The final report will hopefully be available early next year. The highly positive feedback on this project from all participants and other Valley citizens has encouraged us to continue with this great project in 2023 with improvements based on lessons learned in 2022.
Parker Jefferson, Co-Chair of the Cowichan Stewardship Round Table, who took part in the study gave a well-designed PowerPoint presentation on his experience and results from his location along Cowichan River Road which generated even more interest in the project from other groups in the Valley who would like to participate in 2023.
Meanwhile, Bernie Juurlink has gone the extra mile by investigating and describing species-specific sonograms produced by the echo meters at his location to minimize the inherent species identification bias caused by species with similar echo 'sounds'.
I take this opportunity to sincerely thank Bernie for his meticulous research and production of a great paper published on CERCA's website (see link 2).
Link 1: https://www.cowichanestuary.com/bat-monitoring-2021-final-report/
Link 2: https://www.cowichanestuary.com/amazing-voices-of-bats/
Swallow Population Monitoring: The 2022 results of this project which was initiated in 2016 have been significantly more promising than last year's. While the 2021 season was characterized by an early spring and several severe heat domes during the breeding season, the 2022 weather pattern was much more favorable, a late and wet spring followed by a dry summer with only one heat wave shortly after birds had hatched. Unfortunately, however, there was little improvement in nest box occupancy along the fencelines of Blackley Farm and the salt marsh owned by the Heritage House family. The reasons for the low occupancy are speculative. Due to the poor results at both locations, we are contemplating moving the boxes to more promising sites which still have to be identified. For a summary of this year's findings, the following link refers.
https://www.cowichanestuary.com/tree-swallow-project-2022/
MOTUS Station: This migratory bird telemetry tracking station established with the assistance of CERCA along Khenipsen Road and maintained and controlled by CERCA continues to be operated by the Canadian Wildlife Service. The results for Dunlin and Western Sandpiper recordings are rather disappointing, possibly a reflection of the noticeable population decline of both species during the past two decades.
Cowichan Watershed Water Quality Monitoring: Recognizing the need for systematic water quality monitoring of the Cowichan Watershed and floodplain of the Cowichan/Koksilah Rivers CERCA met with the Somenos Marsh Wildlife Society to discuss this opportunity of a joint project to be initiated in 2022. However, shortly after our meeting this much-needed monitoring was taken over by the CVRD in cooperation with the Cowichan Watershed Board, the Ministry of Environment, Cowichan Tribes, and members of local citizen groups.
Ecological Corridors Somenos-/Quamichan/Estuary: Unfortunately, we did not make much progress regarding this initiative which was planned for 2021. Except for proposing and lobbying the two corridors and a third to encompass all of the south-facing slopes of Mt. Tzouhalem nothing concrete has happened yet. All three corridors were highlighted by CERCA in our comments provided to North Cowichan in connection with the new OCP. With the new MNC Council established we will present this proposal again to the Council members in 2022, emphasizing that this could become a valuable contribution to the ambitious 30/30 % goal for the protection of marine and land-based ecosystems agreed on by 200 nations at the Montreal Summit with Canada being one of the signatories, on a local level.
AGM 2022: This year's AGM was held online again. Participating members jointly recapitulated and discussed completed and ongoing projects before electing a new board. The new Board is composed of all past members who unanimously were re-elected and confirmed in their new positions. Gotz remains as Chair, Bill Heath as Co-Chair, Maragaret Riess as Treasurer, Geoff Strong as Secretary, and John Atkinson, Peter Scheiler, and Cliff Stainsby as Directors at large. We welcomed Dr. Bernhard Juurlink as a new Board member. He is expected to be a great asset to the Board and CERCA. Bernie is always well-informed, well-connected, quite vocal about environmental matters in the Cowichan Valley, and happens to be a Key member of the Koksilah Basin Society. Welcome onboard, Bernie!
CERCA 10th Anniversary: In August about 40 CERCA members celebrated our 10th Anniversary at the home of Beate and Goetz which offers a splendid view of the estuary. It was a fun event with entertainment provided by a three-person jazz band who kept us going until late evening. The food, atmosphere, and entertainment were great. All in all a celebration to remember also for another reason: we had dedicated the anniversary to flying insects of the estuary threatened by light pollution from the Western Forest Products Mill, the Westcan Terminal, and the Cowichan Bay Village with bright and mostly un-shaded lights brightening the night sky and attracting insects.
Jointly with the Cowichan Valley Naturalists Society CERCA had started a campaign to raise awareness of this problem well ahead of time with articles and full-page advertisements in local papers, and informative leaflets distributed amongst residents of Cowichan Bay asking them to turn off their lights for one hour the night of our celebration. We had asked Western Forest Products and the operator of the Westcan Terminal to do the same in recognition of the problem. The latter and many residents around the bay obliged and turned off their lights. For more information on the impacts of light pollution on insects it is referred to an article I published on our website:
https://www.cowichanestuary.com/light-pollution-killing-insects-by-the-millions/
Successful Cooperation with Cowichan Valley Naturalists: Thanks to the intervention with Western Stevedoring by Bruce Coates, President of the CVNs , we finally have access again to our self-guided estuary nature trail. We used this opportunity in late winter, before the green- up, to hire a bobcat operator with a side-cutter to clean the heavily overgrown trail and make it usable again. This exercise will hopefully now be continued on an annual basis. CERCA shared the related cost with the Cowichan Valley Naturalists, a great start for closer cooperation in the future.
CVRD Elder College: After a two-year break due to covid I took out groups from the Elder College again on our traditional guided tours of the estuary making good use of the trail and all the interpretative signs which are now in place thanks to the intervention of Bruce. Hopefully, we can continue in 2023 with guided tours involving UVIC and Vancouver Island University students, and Cowichan Secondary School.
In Summary:
Looking back at the past year we can be proud of our work and achievements. Especially noteworthy is our expanding cooperation with Academia, the Cowichan Valley Naturalists, Project Watershed, and increasingly more with other like-minded groups in our area. Joint research projects with UVIC, UBC, and Simon Fraser Universities, and close ties with Researchers from the Canadian Wildlife Service, continue to provide valuable baseline information on the estuary which hopefully will serve decision makers to make the right decisions related to estuary matters!
I close this letter by expressing my sincere gratitude to the CERCA Board members for their work and support. It was a pleasure and honor to work with all of you! Special thanks are given to all CERCA volunteers who donated their time, energy, and money to our projects. Without you and all other supporting members, CERCA would not have achieved what has been achieved today!
I wish you a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2023 in the hope that the Corona epidemic will be finally a thing of the past and no other looming on the horizon.
_________________
Dr. Goetz Schuerholz
Chair CERCA