Pacific WildLife Foundation Projects for 2010

The Pacific WildLife Foundation conducts independent study of marine ecosystems throughout the Pacific Ocean with an aim of sharing the information with scientists and the public. We assemble teams of scientists to conduct the research and educators to provide the information to a variety of audiences from children to adults. In all cases, our messages are based on the results of rigorous, objective scientific research. We provide advice and influence through numerous international and national scientific advisory panels and boards, the media and this web site.

Our aim is to restore wild species populations to levels that are sustained by nature. Our focus is on recovery, restoration, and measuring change. 

 Return of the Gray Whale

The Return of the Gray Whale project is documenting the genetic relationship between the whales that spend the summer areas along the coast of British Columbia and Washington.

The gray whale recovered relatively quickly from industrial whaling a century ago. For many years, small numbers of gray whales have spent the summer in bays along the shore of British Columbia and Washington. PWLF Director Jim Darling and others have discovered that the Southern Feeding Group that spend the summer along beaches between Alaska and California are a genetically different than the rest of the eastern Pacific herd. The results have important implications on how the recovery of the gray whale population is managed. For more on this project and gray whales, click here.

Return of the Eagle

The Return of the Eagle project explores how the recovery of the eagle is echoed in the ecology of rivers and shores along the west coast of North America.

The return of the bald eagle to former abundance along the north Pacific began in the 1980s following a ban on the use of persistent chemicals and reduced persecution by humans. Today eagles are widespread and abundant. We think that spawning salmon is key to their survival as a source of food in autumn and winter. If this hunch is true, then the fate of eagles is tied to how well we conserve salmon stocks. The recovery of eagles also adds a new predator to the landscape. Eagles return to the coast to prey on seabirds and ducks after spawned salmon are gone from rivers in late winter that might affect where these birds choose to reside.

The objective of the Return of the Eagle project is to examine how prey species respond to the annual movements of eagles between the coast and salmon streams. The project began in the Strait of Georgia on the west coast of Canada in 2008 by Principal Investigators Dr. Rob Butler and Dr. Dan Esler and Associates Holly Middleton and Peter Davidson using a generous grant from the Seadoc Society. Those results are being prepared for publication. Rob Butler and Ron Ydenberg from PWLF in collaboration with Caroline Fox from the Raincoast Conservation Foundation are exploring how the seasonal abundance and distribution of eagles affect their prey along the coast. For more information on eagles, click here.

Return of the Humpback Whale

The Return of the Humpback project is tracking the slow return of these whales to the eastern Pacific Ocean and discovering where they travel through their lives.

In the 1980s the PWLF (then West Coast Whale Research) undertook pioneering research of humpback whales on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Now we are using those data to document their recovery along the east and west coasts of Vancouver Island. Identification of individual whales allows us to understand how whales use the waters of the Pacific. Humpback whales can be identified by markings on the undersides of their tail flukes. By regularly ‘sampling’ areas using photographs of whale’s tail flukes is the basis by which estimates of population size and definition are drawn. Over time a picture emerges how individuals use an area, how long they are present, their migratory destinations, birth interval and age of sexual maturity.  

Humpback whale photo-identification sampling occurs annually in Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Canada, both through dedicated surveys by Dr. Jim Darling of PWLF, other researchers and contributions from whale watching operations in the region. All photo-identifications, in conjunction with ID collections from throughout the Pacific are assembled regularly in catalogues and further our understanding of the abundance and behavior of humpbacks whales.   

The humpback whale was at one time, the most abundant large whale along the British Columbia coast. Commercial whaling between 1903 and 1966 killed nearly 2000 of them in British Columbia and the species was declared endangered worldwide in 1966. During the 1970s, humpbacks were occasionally reported along the west coast of Canada but it was not until the 1990s that the whales began to return to their former inshore waters. The good news is that the species is rebounding throughout the North Pacific as a result of protection from hunting, an abundance of food, and high reproductive potential. An estimated 20,000 humpbacks now occur in the North Pacific of which about 200-400 reside in summer in our Southern Vancouver Island study area.

Long-term data collected since 1995 by PWLF Director Jim Darling have provided an insight into the rate of recovery of the whales and linked the breeding sites in Mexico, Hawaii and Japan to the summer feeding grounds along Vancouver Island. The data show that 107 of the 241 individual whales were seen in two or more years, most quite recently.  Prior to 2001, most (97%) of the sightings were of new whales to the region compared to 60% by 2007. The recovery of the humpback took over three decades to begin and it will likely require many years before the recovery is complete. This information is critical to development of meaningful management and conservation policies. Our partners include Remote Passages and Jamie’s Whaling Station. For more information humpback whales click here and to learn more about this project or contribute, click here.

Oil Spill Recovery

 PWLF is researching how long seaducks are exposed to oil from the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.  

Although the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred more than two decades ago  (March 1989), scientists continue to evaluate long-term effects of the spill on the ecosystem of Prince William Sound, Alaska.  One of those scientists is PWLF Director Dan Esler, who has studied population recovery of sea ducks from the spill since 1994.  The work to date has shown that the harlequin duck and Barrow’s goldeneye - two sea ducks that winter along the coast where they eat benthic invertebrates - are particularly vulnerable to chronic effects of the spill.  Dr. Esler showed that these seaducks continued to be exposed to residual oil found in intertidal sediments on some beaches through 2009.  The PWLF is involved in continuing this work, through funding from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council.  This work continues an unprecedented level of monitoring following a major spill, and will lead to a fuller understanding of how ecosystems recover and the timeframe over which it occurs.

Rebuilding an Ecosystem

A damaged ecosystem is being rebuilt from the bottom up by transplanting plants to attract herring and other small fish that are the basis of the marine food web.

New techniques are emerging that allow for restoration of damaged marine ecosystems. The PWLF homeport is in Port Moody Inlet on the east end of Vancouver Harbour, British Columbia where an intertidal mudflat ecosystem, salmon streams and old growth forest were present a century and a half ago. Longtime residents of Port Moody tell of swimming and crabbing in an eelgrass meadow that ringed the Inlet within the City of Port Moody. Over 30 years ago, salmon hatcheries began to operate on Mossom and Noons Creeks. Log booms stored on the mudflat were moved to deep water a few years ago setting the stage for a recovery. The aim of this project is to restore the inlet to as much of a natural state as possible. We will learn how to rebuild the mudflat ecosystem in Port Moody Inlet and export the science to other restoration projects.

Our first project is to restore an eelgrass meadow in the inlet. Eelgrass is an important nursery and shelter for fish and marine invertebrates, and foraging area for birds. Therefore, eelgrass is an ecological foundation of restoration of the inlet.

PWLF Directors Rob Butler and Rod MacVicar, and Associate Ruth Foster received funding from Environment Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund and TD Friends of the Environment, to restore eelgrass meadows in the inlet. Test transplants of eelgrass were initiated in 2007 and 2008 with help from the many volunteers, Seagrass Conservation Working Group and Pacific Salmon Foundation. A transplant using SCUBA divers in spring of 2010 was successful. The next phase of this project will be to track the changes in fish and bird abundance to document how quickly recovery occurs. You can watch our videos posted on the home page. Videos and More

Heron Survival Project

The Heron Survival Project aims to ensure the subspecies survival as it copes with people and predators.

The great blue heron on the north Pacific Coast is a unique resident subspecies of the rainforest. It is designated a Species at Risk in Canada. About 1500 pairs of great blue heron nest around the Strait of Georgia on the south British Columbia coast. Most herons breed in just a few colonies of 100-400 nesting close to where 2 million people reside.

For decades, the herons learned to cope with disturbances from humans around their nests and pollutants in their food supplies. In the past decade, the herons have had to deal with predation of eggs, nestlings, juvenile and adult herons by bald eagles. We were surprised to discover that some herons had taken to nesting close to certain bald eagle nests. At first glance, this seemed a dangerous gamble because eagles are important predators of nesting herons. Our research showed that some nesting eagles ate mostly fish and ducks they caught along the nearby shore. The territorial nature of these nesting eagles that was aimed at keeping other eagles away from around the eyries inadvertently provided herons with a relatively safe place to nest. This research was completed as part of PWLF Associate Iain Jones’ MSc thesis at Simon Fraser University under the direction of Ron Ydenberg and Rob Butler.  To learn more about herons, click here.

Mapping British Columbia’s Birds

British Columbia has over 300 species of breeding birds – more than any province in Canada. PWLF is one of the partners working with Bird Studies Canada to map the distribution and abundance of all breeding bird species in BC.

Dr. Rob Butler of PWLF is also Programs Scientist for Bird Studies Canada here he is advising the BC Breeding Bird Atlas Project. The aim of the atlas project is to map the distribution and abundance of breeding birds throughout the province between 2008 and 2012. The results will form the foundation for government conservation policy, as well as environmental assessments, endangered species protection, climate change effects, and academic research for years to come. PWLF will participate using our boating and wildlife skills along the remote BC coast. You can read more about the atlas by clicking here.

Marine Bird & Mammal Atlas

The PWLF and Bird Studies Canada mapped the distribution and abundance of marine birds and mammals in the waters around the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve in British Columbia in 2010. We plan to use the results toward an ambitious project with several partners to map the distribution of marine birds and mammals on the entire BC coast.

The waters of the Strait of Georgia in southern British Columbia are important for southern resident killer whales, seals, porpoises, other marine mammals and birds. The Gulf Islands National Park Reserve requires information to manage the waters for these species. We intend to use the methods from this project in a multi-partner project to produce the first Marine Bird & Mammal Atlas for British Columbia. This project is led by PWLF President Rob Butler and Associate Peter Davidson.

Wintering Waterfowl Response to Land Use

The Fraser River Delta is recognized as one of North America’s premier habitat for waterfowl over winter and Canada’s important agricultural land. The PWLF and Simon Fraser University are investigating the role of land use decisions on where thousands of waterfowl choose to graze. 

Our land use decisions can exert strong influences on the way that farmland habitat is used by waterfowl. We are collecting data to understand whether waterfowl avoid certain types of land use and how their interaction with land use patterns impacts the amount of suitable habitat. This three-year project is lead by PWLF Board Member Ron Ydenberg and is part of a PhD dissertation for Simon Fraser University student and PWLF Associate Holly Middleton. It is funded by many sources including the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, BC Agricultural Research and Development Corporation, Ducks Unlimited, Environment Canada, the BC Waterfowl Society, Douglas College and PWLF.

Recently Completed Projects

Black Oystercatcher

The Black Oystercatcher project documented the distribution and conservation needs of this endemic species in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia.

There was some concern from the public and Parks Canada about the impact of humans were having on breeding oystercatchers in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia. We were interested in how much the oystercatcher can tell us about changes to the ecology of rocky shores.

This research led by PWLF President Rob Butler and Associate Todd Golumbia in the Strait of Georgia in collaboration with Parks Canada’s Gulf Islands National Park Reserve advised on the management of the rocky shore ecosystem. Our key findings were that there are slightly more oystercatchers in the Strait of Georgia than two decades ago and that nesting success is much greater there than on the west coast of Vancouver Island where storm waves are a frequent occurrence. Our results were published in the scientific journals Northwest Naturalist and Marine Ornithology. They led to limiting human access to nesting islets in the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, and the selection of this species as an indicator of rocky shore ecosystems.

Steller Sea Lion Abundance

This project documented the seasonal movements of Steller sea lions and characterized haulout use in Clayoquot and Barkley Sounds, British Columbia.

Steller sea lions are listed as a Species of Special Concern under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. Though Steller sea lions are known to disperse widely in some parts of their range, their seasonal movements and habitat use in Canada is poorly understood. PWLF Associate Wendy Szaniszlo led this project in Clayoquot and Barkley Sounds. This work built on her previous sea lion studies, and on-going surveys done in collaboration with the National Marine Mammal Lab, National Marine Fisheries Service.

The key findings were that Steller sea lions occupied two year-round and five seasonal haulouts within Clayoquot and Barkley Sounds. Twenty percent of the BC population utilized these haulouts, most of which are within Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and the Clayoquot Biosphere Reserve. Previous research demonstrated that haulouts were critical habitat, and that haulouts where pups nursed were in particular need of protection. The large number of nursing pups indicates that some sites may be of particular seasonal importance for Steller sea lions.

The Clayoquot Biosphere Trust funded this project, with support from Parks Canada, the Pacific WildLife Foundation and Bird Studies Canada. To learn more about sea lions, click here.