Section 1
Major Themes of 2008-2009

When the Pacific Biological Station opened in the spring of 1908, it served as a base for marine biologists, field naturalists, and university and volunteer researchers.

A CENTURY OF MARINE RESEARCH

The St. Andrews Biological Station and the Pacific Biological Station Celebrate 100 Years of Operation

The year 2008 marked the 100^th anniversary of the permanent St. Andrews Biological Station (SABS) on Canada's east coast and the Pacific Biological Station (PBS) on the west coast. Established in 1908, the stations have grown dramatically since then and the research has evolved with new knowledge and technologies.

The current station (left) attracted a crowd for its anniversary celebrations, including many young visitors who were drawn to the touch tanks with a variety of marine life from nearby waters (right).

Photos: DFO

Situated in Nanaimo, B.C., PBS is the focal point for fisheries and aquatic research on the west coast. During the early years, the station served as a base for a wide range of researchers including marine biologists, field naturalists, university scientists and volunteer researchers. Its first curator, the Rev. George W. Taylor, was a self-taught field naturalist who insisted on scientific rigor “to do meticulous painstaking research; to document it carefully; to share the results of the investigation with others.” His approach helped establish the station's reputation for world-class, groundbreaking fisheries research.

The St. Andrews Biological Station (left) has grown into a worldclass research station since its humble beginnings as a portable marine laboratory (right) in 1899. In 2008, the station marked 100 years of operation since a permanent station opened in St. Andrews, N.B., in May 1908.

In the mid-1920s, PBS embarked on investigations into practical fishing problems and hired permanent scientific staff. The facilities, staff and programs grew quickly in response to demands for answers to domestic and international fisheries challenges. In 1962, the new research vessel G.B. Reed expanded the research range into the high seas to undertake investigations of ocean migrations and residence for groundfish, hake and salmon. Today, more than 250 PBS researchers and support staff continue the tradition of excellence, carrying out research programs encompassing stock assessment and management advice for all fish and marine mammal species, aquaculture, marine environment and habitat science, ocean science and productivity. For more information on PBS: www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/sci/pbs/

Established in Brandy Cove in St. Andrews, N.B., SABS became the first permanent marine research station on Canada's Atlantic Coast. Research on fisheries, the environment, oceanography and aquaculture has dominated the station's history. Early research at SABS explored improvements in fishing gear technology and methods for handling, processing and transporting fisheries products; identification of flora and fauna; commercially important species; and oceanography in the Bay of Fundy and other Atlantic Canadian waters. SABS scientists gained considerable expertise in each of these fields and pioneered conservation practices, fishing regulations, and fishing survey and assessment methods.

SABS has evolved into a federal research institute with 80 employees, continuing a tradition of collaborating with researchers at other federal and provincial institutions, universities and private institutions to provide advice on the responsible management of harvested and cultured marine resources. Its multidisciplinary research programs explore aquaculture and biological interactions including research on the aquaculture of salmon, the development of new finfish and shellfish species for culture; oceanography and environmental issues; coastal oceanography; and population ecology including transboundary stocks and species at risk. For more information on SABS: www.mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/sabs/ and http://www.mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/e0006538

A receding glacier in Pangnirtung Fiord as seen from the air in September 2009. Melting glaciers and the expansion of seawater as it warms are expected to contribute to a rise in the average global sea level of between 18 and 59 centimetres by the year 2100.

Photo: DFO, Leah Hartwig

CLIMATE CHANGE

Assessing and Preparing for Emerging Risks and Opportunities

The oceans regulate the Earth's climate through their interactions with the atmosphere and are a key factor in all aspects of climate change. With the world's longest coastline bordering three oceans, Canada has a vested interest in understanding the role oceans play in the global climate and the impacts of climate change on both marine and freshwater ecosystems. Some of those impacts are already apparent, including declining sea ice, changes in the distribution of fish and marine mammals, and associated impacts on traditional Inuit subsistence culture.

Climate change is expected to have a bearing on many aspects of DFO's mandate, including habitat and fisheries management, species at risk, small craft harbours, and maritime safety and security. Understanding and assessing the emerging risks and opportunities of projected impacts and preparing appropriately are departmental priorities. While the risks to marine ecosystems and physical infrastructure are unmistakable, the department must also be poised to respond to opportunities such as those caused by regional shifts in fisheries productivity.

In 2008, DFO established the national Climate Change Science Initiative (CCSI) to: improve our predictions of climate change in Canadian waters (both marine and fresh) and our understanding of the potential impacts on aquatic ecosystems; anticipate emerging issues that have not been adequately researched; and identify the potential socioeconomic effects of climate change and variability on Canadians and the global community. The projects encompass three central themes:

• understanding the role of oceans in regional climates to better predict and manage future impacts. Initial prediction and scenario projects focus on the development of regional ocean climate models and climate change scenarios for the Atlantic and Pacific coasts;
• assessing impacts and vulnerabilities of climate change on ecosystem composition, structure and function; and
• investigating emerging issues that affect ecosystem health, including hypoxia (low oxygen) and acidification.

One project underway is the development of regional ocean climate computer models and scenarios for Atlantic Canada. The response of the Northwest Atlantic to climate change is particularly complex due to the competing influences of Arctic outflows, continental run-off, sea ice, the Labrador Current and Gulf Stream, and continental and subtropical air masses. To identify ocean climate changes and their impacts, the team is using regional ice-ocean and plankton models in conjunction with regional knowledge and larger-scale scenarios of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This project, which focuses on the shelf system from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Maine, will provide a basis for addressing various climate change issues as more information becomes available from global climate models.

Seals haul out on drifting pack ice off the coast of southern Labrador. Climate change is threatening this critical habitat where ice-breeding seals pup and nurse their young.

Photo: DFO, Dave McKinnon

CCSI data are being integrated into research carried out by seven Ecosystem Research Initiatives (ERIs) that are now underway across the country. By including climate change and variability, this knowledge will aid in understanding how climate may affect fish populations and community productivity and assist in the development of ecosystem management and adaptations strategies.

One ERI team, for example, is examining the biological components and their interactions with the physical environment of the Strait of Georgia. To address climate change, the team is developing a regional model that will reflect the anticipated local changes due to global climate variability. Coastal wind patterns from 18 global climate model simulations over the 21^th century have been examined as have coastal freshwater and atmospheric influx through multi-decade time series of river discharge and wind measurement from offshore weather buoys.

Aboard the CCGS Hudson, personnel from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography and the Canadian Coast Guard prepare to deploy an oceanographic mooring to monitor temperature, salinity and currents in the Orphan Basin, a deep-water area off the northeast coast of Newfoundland. The data collected contributed to ocean climate studies in the Northwest Atlantic.

Photo: DFO, Tony Joyce

In addition, DFO's ongoing ocean observation programs increase our capacity to assess, predict and mitigate climate change and variability in aquatic ecosystems through the collection of comprehensive, integrated multidisciplinary data. This information is complemented by data accessed through the department's participation in a world-wide network of ocean monitoring systems that aid in global climate change detection.

Climate change research is also supported by some of DFO's Centres of Expertise, including the National Centre for Arctic Aquatic Research Excellence, the Centre of Expertise in Marine Mammology and the Centre for Ocean Model Development for Applications (COMDA). Large-scale atmosphere-ocean-ice coupled computer models being developed under the auspices of COMDA will help keep Canada at the forefront of international ocean-climate research.

Photo: DFO, Jeremy Stewart

In the Eastern Beaufort Sea, Arctic research technician John Jorgenson of DFO's Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg dives with a slurp-gun to sample ice algae from the underside of the ice. Researchers are exploring ice algae as part of the International Polar Year (2007-2009) Circumpolar Flaw Lead study. Scientists hypothesize that the timing and duration of ice-algae production will serve as a strong ecological indicator for the polar marine ecosystem in the face of a rapidly changing ice environment. The research was carried out in collaboration with the Institut des Sciences de la Mer of Université du Québec à Rimouski.

Our scientists and other staff also collaborate in many national and international climate change science initiatives, including International Polar Year (IPY), which explored the impacts of climate change in the Arctic. Six major research projects led by DFO Science for IPY (March 2007-March 2009), as well as collaborations on other IPY projects, are deepening our understanding of polar processes and their global linkages, and increasing our ability to detect change.

DFO scientists are making immense contributions to evidence-based policy on climate change and to the public's understanding of climate change in general. Their contributions of peer-reviewed science and as leading and contributing authors to various international Arctic climate assessment reports, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), have helped generate a global shift in attitude about climate change. Canada's North is on the front line of climate change, and nowhere else are the effects and stakes of failing to adapt so high.

Using epoxy glue, scientists attach satellite tags to harp seals off the southern coast of Labrador. The tags, which fall off later during the yearly moult, enable scientists to monitor the seals' movements, including how they use ice and other habitats that will be affected by climate change, and to collect data on water temperatures from areas where other sources of data are not available. The information collected is also being incorporated into an oceanographic model under development at DFO's Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre.

Photo: DFO, Dave McKinnon; Garry Stenson (inset).