CERCA’s funding proposal of 50K approved by DFO for restoration of Mariners Island Salt Marsh

From the Chair:  CERCA’s funding proposal of 50K approved by DFO for restoration of Mariners Island Salt Marsh in the heart of the Cowichan EstuaryThe Cowichan Estuary Restoration and Conservation Association (CERCA) is pleased to announce that CERCA’s funding proposal under the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnerships Program (RFCPP) has been approved in full for an amount of $50,000 pending signing of a contribution agreement.The project rationale is to rehabilitate approximately three hectares of prime salt marsh habitat. The targeted area provides food and shelter to a wide spectrum of fauna including Chinook, Coho and chum smolt thriving along some of the still un-disturbed sections of shoreline and in the intertidal pools and side channels of the Cowichan Estuary. A group of scientific, biological, and local knowledge experts, with over 300 years combined experience on the Cowichan, classified the Cowichan River and Estuary critical Chinook habitat and a habitat at risk limiting the productive capacity of the Cowichan River Chinook fall run.The Cowichan River and Estuary have undergone considerable change, bringing into question the health of the ecosystem. The Cowichan River Chinook, Coho and Chum depend on the lower river and estuary during the most critical time of their life cycle. Quality habitat in the estuary and marshlands is a key prerequisite for smolt survival. Logs and woody debris moved around by tidal changes and storms in the Cowichan Estuary and marshes prevent and disturb the growth of riparian- and marshland vegetation, in particular around inter-tidal pools which provide smolt with food and shelter. The return of Cowichan Chinook declined from 10,000 spawners in the early 1990s to a low of only a few hundred natural spawners in 2009. This habitat enhancement project addresses one of the key limiting factors to Chinook smolt: creation and sustainability of quality estuarine habitat.The project focuses on the removal of logs and woody debris washed up over time onto the marshes located to the south of the WFP mill pond in the heart of the Cowichan Estuary. A large section of these highly productive salt marshes is currently covered by a nearly solid layer of logs in different stages of decomposition releasing carbon dioxide in the process and destroying valuable migratory bird and forage fish habitat. The woody debris prevents carbon sequestration by the salt marsh and effective utilization of micro-, meio-and macro-fauna such as migratory birds and their prey. The Cowichan Estuary is a designated “Important Bird Area” (IBA), globally significant for migratory species and a Key over-wintering area for numerous shorebird species and waterfowl all depending on estuarine habitat for food and shelter.It is only recently that research work on forage fish has established the severity of the damage that is occurring due to log scouring in the estuary, specifically damaging to forage fish habitat that is critical for spawning and rearing along shorelines and marshes such as related to the target area. Surf smelt and sand lance spawn rear in gravel and sand beach habitats in the upper one third of the intertidal zone.  Many species of salmon, marine mammals and sea birds depend on forage fish.  Protecting them will also have a positive impact by protecting a vital food source for numerous marine predators. It is self-evident that the proposed intervention of rehabilitating key bird and fish habitat on Mariner’s Island and its shorelines will result in significant estuary habitat improvement.By removing the logs from marshes, and shorelines, important bird and fish habitats will be restored and their environmental quality improved. Once the logs are removed, the underlying estuarine habitat will be exposed and allowed to flourish.  The habitat includes mud, silt, sand and pebble surfaces along the shoreline, marsh, grass and shrub communities in the marsh lands and abandond agricultural fields. Once this habitat is allowed to recover native salt marsh vegetation is expected to recover. Forage fish, migratory birds and associated species will benefit from the improvement of the environmental quality and restoration.The people of the Cowichan Valley have agreed in numerous forums and plans, such as the Water Management Plan, the Cowichan Estuary Management Plan, the respective Official Community Plans  of the CVRD and North Cowichan, and the Regional State of the Environment Report that ensuring the health of Cowichan watershed and its estuary is an important goal for the community, a key priority for the Cowichan Tribes, and a top priority for the Cowichan Stewardship Round Table and the Cowichan Watershed Board.  Over the past years the Cowichan Valley has forged major partnerships related to watershed management, river quality enhancement and Chinook stock improvement in an effort to bring Cowichan Chinook back into sustainable fishery in Georgia Strait. The proposed project to be implemented by CERCA in April/May 2015 is expected to contribute to make this happen.27 October 2014Dr. Goetz Schuerholz, Conservation EcologistChair CERCA