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Research Document - 2010/045

Ecosystem Status and Trends Report for North Coast and Hecate Strait ecozone

By P. Cummins and R. Haigh

Abstract

The status and trends of indicators of the condition of biodiversity of the northern coastal waters of British Columbia are reviewed. Among the notable results it is found that upper-ocean waters show warming and freshening trends, dissolved oxygen levels are decreasing, and dissolved CO2 levels are increasing in intermediate waters of the NE Pacific basin. These changes are likely to impact marine ecosystems found along the continental shelf off British Columbia.

Organisms may shift their location depending on sea surface temperature SST, moving with the water temperature that suits them best. Marine ecosystems in the North Coast and Hecate Strait ecozone may change, perhaps relatively more rapidly than in the past, due to climate change.

Populations of a number of indigenous species to the North Coast are listed as endangered, threatened, or of special concern under the Species at Risk Act, including the northern abalone, (Haliotis kamtschatkana - Threatened), sea otters (Enhydra lutris – Special Concern) and northern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca - Threatened). Stocks of some commercially harvested fish remain depressed, notably the sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) of Smith and Rivers Inlet, and certain stocks of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii). Populations of most marine mammals that had been commercially harvested or purposefully eradicated in the twentieth century, and have since gained protected status, are recovering. Human activities still pose a threat to many of these animals primarily through over-fishing, contaminants, lost or damaged fishing gear, shipping and decline of prey food items.

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