Beach Education and Conservation of Habitat (BEACH) Program
Our beaches are under threat from multiple sources, including pollution, overland flow erosion, storm drain outfalls, garbage, sea-level rise, climate-related storm activity, and backshore development.
The Beach Education and Conservation of Habitat (BEACH) Program provides Victoria area residents with opportunities to gain hands-on experience in shoreline conservation and protection. Our program addresses these threats and supports environmental stewardship through education and community science.
Although many people know their beaches intimately, they don’t always know how a beach was formed and that it is constantly changing. Along with education about dynamic beach processes, we teach stewards to identify developing or imminent environmental threats. Armed with this knowledge, stewards are better able to help mitigate threats to beaches by lobbying and supporting activities, such as beach protection, nourishment and restoration.
We also hold public meetings, seminars and presentations to illustrate the impact of residential development, climate change, and other threats to shoreline ecosystems.
Scroll below to take a look at our different program components.
1) Forage Fish Spawning Habitat Surveys
What are forage fish?
Forage fish are small schooling fish that play a crucial role in the marine food web as food, or ‘forage’, for a plethora of other species. There are 7 common species of forage fish in BC: Pacific sand lance, surf smelt, Pacific herring, Pacific sardine, Northern anchovy, eulachon, and capelin.
Forage fish are a vital link between low and high trophic levels, feeding on phytoplankton and zooplankton and transferring this energy to salmon, seabirds, marine mammals, and humans. Forage fish comprise 60% of adult Chinook salmon summer diets, which in turn comprise 80% of southern resident killer whale diets. With both Chinook salmon and southern resident killer whale populations in decline, having healthy populations of forage fish on our coast is critical to ensuring the overall health of the Salish Sea marine environment.
In addition to their ecological value, forage fish are also commercially, recreationally, and culturally important around the world, currently accounting for over 1/3 of overall marine harvest by weight.
What's the problem?
These forage fish spawning beaches are under threat from a variety of sources:
- Backshore development of riprap and seawalls (hard armouring), interrupting natural sediment recruitment processes and resulting in the finer, spawning-suitable sediments being washed away from the beach.
- Removal of backshore riparian vegetation which destabilizes banks and eliminates important beach shading for eggs.
- Sea level rise and climate-related storm activity.
- Pollution and debris from a variety of sources, including outfalls, parking lots, farms, and boats.
While often abundant, forage fish spawning beaches are undergoing a coastal squeeze, experiencing the effects of shoreline development on land and climatic conditions from the sea.
Surf Smelt and Pacific Sand Lance
Unlike some of the other forage fish found on our coast that spawn in either offshore waters (e.g., Northern anchovy and Pacific sardine), river systems (e.g., eulachon), or nearshore waters (e.g., Pacific herring), surf smelt and Pacific sand lance are obligate intertidal spawners, meaning they spawn directly on sand-gravel beaches near the high tide line. The eggs incubate within the sediment and depend on shading from overhanging vegetation to protect them from the sun.
Surf smelt, reaching lengths of up to 20 cm, spawn year-round during high tides on sand-gravel beaches in the upper 1/3 of the intertidal. Females lay an average of 20,000 eggs which are concurrently fertilized by males. Eggs are roughly 0.8-1 mm in size and via wave action are buried 2-15 cm into the beach sediment. Here, eggs incubate within the interstitial spaces of the sediment for 2-8 weeks. For summer spawning populations, shade from riparian vegetation and freshwater seepage act as an important means of temperature/desiccation regulation. Embryo development depends on temperature and spawning time, but generally eggs will hatch after 14 days. The newly hatched larval fish are roughly 3 mm in length with a small yolk sac attached, and swim off at the next high tide.
Pacific sand lance, reaching lengths of up to 28 cm, spawn during the winter season (roughly October-March) on pure sand beaches in the upper 1/3 of the intertidal (tend to spawn closer to the water than surf smelt). Eggs are slightly smaller in size than surf smelt (0.5-0.7 mm) and incubate within the interstitial spaces of the sediment for up to one month. Embryo development depends on temperature and spawning time, but generally eggs will hatch after 14 days. Like surf smelt, the newly hatched larval fish are roughly 3 mm in length with a small yolk sac attached, and swim off at the next high tide.
Our Program
Our forage fish spawning habitat surveys aim to identify and monitor which Victoria area beaches forage fish use for spawning—and thus which beaches need protection. Positive detections for forage fish spawning help us to understand forage fish movement, spawning behaviour, how human actions may be affecting them, and what changes occur in marine food webs as forage fish continue to face threats to their habitats.
The valuable data we collect from these forage fish spawning habitat surveys are important for informing decisions that impact intertidal areas and contribute to other nearshore research projects throughout the Salish Sea. We are collaborating with the Strait of Georgia Data Centre, Pacific Salmon Foundation, and the Institute for the Ocean and Fisheries (UBC) to gather forage fish ecosystem information on local beaches. The Coastal Forage Fish Network (CFFN), co-founded by Peninsula Steams, is a network of organizations that work collaboratively towards identifying and monitoring forage fish spawning habitat, which plays a key role in the conservation of these species. The network’s vision statement is “thriving stable forage fish populations that can sustain the predators that rely upon them and contribute to a healthy marine food web within the coastal waters of BC”. The network is continually growing and includes multiple groups encompassing hundreds of community scientists.
The DFO currently has a lack of forage fish knowledge in comparison to the United States. For example, in 2016, WWF-Canada released a report, Food for all, which warned that 3/4 of the forage fish stock is unknown. This results in decisions being made within fisheries on how many fish can be caught without knowing how many fish there are. Therefore, the work you are doing as a volunteer in the field, collecting data, is extremely important, and remains the biggest contributor in helping protect these fish.
Using the menu on the top left to toggle between layers, explore the map displaying our sampling sites and where we've found positive detections for surf smelt and Pacific sand lance.
2) Shoreline Restoration & Monitoring
Our goal is to restore, conserve, and protect shoreline habitats against their many threats. We help to identify and monitor key habitats, inform policies, and demonstrate ‘soft shore’ approaches, such as removing unnecessary riprap and bulkheads, “nourishing” shorelines with forage-fish-friendly sediments, and using native plants to protect shorelines while maintaining natural sediment and nutrient processes so these places persist for people and nature to enjoy.
Learn more about our restoration projects here:
Craigflower Creek Tidal Marsh
Our Craigflower Creek tidal marsh restoration project begins in July 2024. Sign up for our newsletter to learn more. Or, sign up to volunteer with this and other restoration projects.
Songhees Walkway Pocket Beach
"The restoration project's historical review reveals layers of cultural heritage buried beneath industrial endeavours. However, with a keen focus on preserving both ecological and cultural values, we embarked on a journey to revive this vital piece of history."
3) European Green Crab Early Detection Monitoring
Native to Europe and North Africa, the European green crab has quickly become one of the top ten most invasive marine species in the world, now found on every continent except Antarctica. Likely brought over to North America in the ballast water of wooden ships around 1817, European green crab have continued to spread both by natural means (long, drifting larval stage) and human-mediated transportation (ballast water, seafood and fishing gear transport, recreational boaters).
First spotted on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the late 1990s, European green crab have slowly been spreading along the BC coast, with well-established populations in Sooke Basin and Clayoquot Sound. Other small detections have popped up in Witty's Lagoon, Esquimalt Lagoon, Salt Spring Island, Ladysmith, Boundary Bay, Port Hardy, and Haida Gwaii.
Extremely adaptable to a wide range of environmental conditions, European green crab are able to quickly establish in a variety of habitats and climates. Once they do, these crabs have a major ecological impact, outcompeting native crab and bird species for food, excavating eelgrass beds during foraging and burrowing, and heavily predating on a number of native species such as clams, oysters, mussels, small fish, and other crabs. European green crab's impact on eelgrass beds is of particular concern due to their role as critical estuary habitat for outmigrating juvenile salmon.
Once a population of European green crab has established, it's virtually impossible to fully eliminate them—aggressive trapping and removal is still the best strategy, however, this only serves to reduce rather than eradicate. That's why early detection and prevention of this species in our local waters is so important. By getting ahead of the problem and removing any individuals before they have a chance to reproduce, we can protect our native populations against this harmful invasive species.
Under the guidance of Coastal Restoration Society, Peninsula Streams undertakes monthly trapping for European green crab each summer. Once a month at each site, a line of 6 traps is set at low tide and left to soak for 24 hours before returning to identify all species—native species are released immediately, while European green crab are not.
4) Beach Cleanups
Pollution, in the form of garbage, debris, plastics, chemicals, and other synthetic materials, poses a severe threat to our streams, shorelines, and oceans, endangering sensitive habitats and the diverse flora and fauna that depend on them, including vital species like salmonids.
To tackle this pressing issue, we actively coordinate regular clean-up initiatives at local shorelines in need. These efforts not only aim to physically remove harmful waste but also serve to educate and inspire individuals about the importance of conserving our natural environments. By engaging communities in hands-on conservation activities, we strive to foster a collective responsibility towards protecting and restoring our aquatic ecosystems.
Ready to get your hands dirty?
80% OF MARINE POLLUTION COMES FROM THE LAND
5) Education
Our BEACH Program can be adapted to any grade as a hands-on education program, getting students engaged in learning about their nearby shorelines through beach cleanups, forage fish spawning surveys, crab identification, beach seining, and more.