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COLUMN: Ecosystem-based management for Howe Sound

Data on grizzly bears, Roosevelt elk, marbled murrelet and old-growth ecosystems will be collected
Mla Jordan Sturdy
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MLA Jordan Sturdy references local John Buchanan’s underwater camera system, Howey2, in his column.John Buchanan

British Columbia is home to one of the largest areas in the world under ecosystem-based management (EBM). 

A total of 180,000 square kilometers of mainland and ocean stretching from Alaska to Campbell River, all of the Great Bear Rainforest, Haida Gwaii and the surrounding waters of the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA) are administered through an environmental management approach. 

Inclusive in its nature, EBM acknowledges the complex sets of interactions within an ecosystem rather than focusing on a single part of the whole. 

The PNCIMA’s “EBM framework contains a set of long-term, overarching goals for ecological integrity, human well-being, collaboration, governance and improved understanding of the area.” 

In Howe Sound, on a more human scale, we have begun to move to an EBM type model in spite of our comparatively small size. 

The Provincial Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations has begun the work of implementing the Cumulative Effects Assessment Framework tool, which defines ”Indicator Values” for which data is collected, monitored and then publically posted to identify environmental trends. 

In Howe Sound the Value Components for which we are collecting Howe Sound data includes grizzly bear, Roosevelt elk, marbled murrelet, old-growth and biodiversity ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems and forest visual quality.

This is a baseline data set that will be updated and expanded on by government and complemented by increasingly sophisticated citizen science. The Coastal Ocean Research Institute of the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Center has recently published a Howe Sound Edition of OceanWatch which collects and analyzes information from diverse sources to take a snapshot in time of ecosystem health.  

The Marine Life Sanctuaries Society has been adding to Glass Sponge Reef research and mapping, Howey 2 is exploring the depths of Howe Sound, DFO, David Suzuki Foundation, Pacific Salmon Foundation, conservation and resource initiatives and Streamkeepers all around the sound take inventory, make observations and report the findings. 

The knowledge base is rapidly building and there is an opportunity to begin to collate in real-time the status of conditions, ongoing monitoring, trends and ecosystem health, along with an understanding of where critical gaps in the knowledge base require further study to develop a complete picture.

It’s easy to see that these are complex issues and that raw data needs to be interpreted in context in order to be meaningful. With potentially many external influences affecting Howe Sound, it is inevitable that the larger picture of the Fraser River, the southern Salish Sea and out to the Pacific Ocean, along with surrounding lands including Vancouver and Seattle-Tacoma, must be assessed as one. 

On the Niagara Escarpment, home to 1.4 million people, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve has been established which is deemed to demonstrate a balanced relationship between humans and the biosphere and promotes management, research and education in ecosystem conservation including the sustainable use of natural resources. 

There is no time like the present to harness this gathering momentum and desire for understanding how to develop and demonstrate that we too can achieve a balanced relationship between the activities of people and healthy natural ecosystems. 

Contact MLA Jordan Sturdy at [email protected] or 604-922-1153.