The Baynes Sound shellfish industry generates approximately $180 million in economic activity for the province, providing year-round jobs to rural and Indigenous communities and food security for the region.
Thanks to upgrades made at Ocean Network Canada’s (ONC) Baynes Sound ocean observatory, the shellfish industry will be benefit from more comprehensive monitoring of the effects of ocean acidification and hypoxia (decrease in oxygen). Warming temperatures and increased carbon dioxide in the ocean contribute to these issues, which impair shellfish growth, development and survival.
“The work that we’re looking at in Baynes Sound boils down to water chemistry,” said ONC science services director Jordan Watson. “If the pH of the ocean gets lower than eight, we think of the ocean becoming a bit more acidic. If it becomes more acidic, then certain critters don’t do so well. These are the critters whose shells tend to dissolve under more acidic conditions, or have a hard time being formed to begin with.”
Just like land dwellers, ocean dwellers also need oxygen to survive.
“Hypoxia is a condition where the oxygen is lower than it needs to be. Just as we would not do very well in hypoxic conditions, neither do shellfish,” Watson said. “Pretty much all the processes tied into building your skeleton and breathing that oxygen are dependent on temperature.”
The observatory has been collecting data since 2019, informing the local shellfish growers on changes in the ocean temperature and pH. This information can help the growers make decisions on how to farm their shellfish according to the ocean’s current conditions.
Before the new upgrades, the Baynes Sound observatory could only provide data at depths of five, 20 and 40 metres. Now, with a new profiling system, they are able to collect data throughout the whole water column.
“When we would just collect data from those three depths, that leaves a lot of questions about what is happening below or in between those depths. Especially if changes area happening in the water column, being able to understand how those changes are propagating through the water column is really helpful for us to understand the science and ultimately the potential for adaptation. ” said Watson.
Such adaptations the growers can make include buffering the pH for spawning, or modifying the water in tanks. “If a certain portion of the water column has more more favourable conditions, shallower or deeper, then you can adjust the conditions the shellfish are experiencing in real time,” Watson said.
In addition to providing the scientists with more information to monitor the ecosystem, there is the added bonus of the new system’s sensors being easier to clean.
“That’s a big appeal for us because lower maintenance need translates to better data quality,” Watson said.
Monitoring the acidification and hypoxia in Baynes Sound can also help support the ecosystem as a whole; for example, by tracking the effects on the salmon and herring populations.
The Baynes Sound Observatory upgrade has been made possible by the Climate Ready BC Seafood program (CRBS) which supports the BC Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Action Plan. The Baynes Sound Observatory was awarded CRBS funding for this project, in addition to 11 other ocean science organizations.
“It’s been a really big collaborative effort among a bunch of different partners in the region, from the Hakai Institute to the Ocean Networks Canada. It just really demonstrates how many different groups are working on related efforts to advance the region’s ability to adapt. And BC’s really tried to lead the way in ocean acidification and hypoxia work in Canada, which lays a good groundwork for collaborative monitoring and the integration of scientific information,” Watson said.
To learn more about the Baynes Sound observatory, OCN and the CRBS visit oceannetworks.ca.