Marine Surveys
In 2004 Raincoast began 5 years (7 seasons) of gruelling and expensive boat-based, systematic surveys of BC’s coastal waters to determine the abundance and distribution of marine birds and mammals. This work has been a critical part of our efforts to achieve long-term protection of marine mammals habitats. Over 14,000 km of ocean track line were surveyed between 2004 and 2008, primarily in the waters between Dixon Entrance (Alaska -BC Border) and Johnstone Strait, but also the inside inlets.
Raincoast publications from this work
A preliminary spatial assessment of risk: Marine birds and chronic oil pollution on Canada’s Pacific coast.
Fox, C.H., P.D. O’Hara, S. Bertazzon, K. Morgan, F.E. Underwood, P.C. Paquet. 2016. A preliminary spatial assessment of risk: Marine birds and chronic oil pollution on Canada’s Pacific coast. Science of The Total Environment Volume 573, 15 December 2016, Pages 799–809
View paper online http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969716318472
Updated marine mammal distribution and abundance estimates for British Columbia
Distribution and abundance estimates from five years (7 seasons) of marine mammal survey in BC’s coastal waters
Best, B.D., C.H. Fox, R. Williams, P.N. Halpin and P.C. Paquet. 2015. Updated marine mammal distribution and abundance estimates in British Columbia. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 15, 9-26
Download the pdf: Best-et-al-2015-Update-MM-BC-Coast-JCRM
Distribution and abundance of marine mammals in coastal BC
Williams, R. and L. Thomas. 2007. Distribution and abundance of marine mammals in the coastal waters of British Columbia, Canada. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management. 9(1):15-28
Designing line transect surveys for the BC coast
Thomas, L., R. Williams, and D. Sandilands, D. 2007. Designing line transect surveys for complex survey regions. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management. 9(1):1-13,
Predictive Marine Mammal Modeling for Queen Charlotte Basin, British Columbia
The technical findings and modelling from this work can found in the report Predictive Marine Mammal Modeling for Queen Charlotte Basin, British Columbia (PDF).
What’s at Stake
The find
ings from our marine surveys were also incorporated into the popular report What’s at Stake: The cost of oil on BC’s priceless coast conveys the ecological implications of oil tankers and oil spills to wildlife on the BC coast. The report stems from the five years of at-sea surveys but places BC’s unique coastline in a broader ecological context.
href=”https://www.raincoast.org/files/WAS_report/whatsatstake_vers.04-10.pdf”>What’s at Stake Report (PDF)
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