Category-Science-Research

Chatham Sound Chatham Sound is situated in the northern part of British Columbia, located between Dundas and Stephens Islands and the Tsimpsean Peninsula near Prince Rupert and bordering on Alaska. It is a semi-enclosed basin with an area of approximately 1500 km2, and is influenced by fresh water from two large rivers, the Skeena and ...

Fisheries Science Fisheries management draws on fisheries science in order to find ways to protect fishery resources so that sustainable exploitation is possible. Fisheries science is the academic discipline of managing and understanding fisheries. It is a multidisciplinary science, which draws on the disciplines of oceanography, marine biology, marine conservation, ecology, population dynamics, economics and ...

History of the Zalinski The USAT Brigadier General M. G. Zalinski was a U.S. Army transport ship that served in both World War I and World War II. She was a steel ship 251 feet in length, 44 feet in width, and 26 feet in depth. She was originally built in 1919 as the Lake ...

Introduction Eelgrass beds are both ecologically valuable and potentially threatened. They fall within the “critical” category of DFO's habitat rating system, and DFO has concluded that eelgrass has characteristics which meet the criteria of an Ecologically Significant Species. The United Nations recently estimated a 15% loss in seagrass habitat globally over the last decade. The ...

Echo Sounder Theory A single-beam sounder calculates the depth below the ship using the time it takes a sound pulse to travel to the seafloor, reflect, and then return back to the transducer. The backscatter of the sound pulse can also be analyzed to provide information regarding the nature of the seafloor (e.g., roughness, hardness). ...

Pacific Herring Pacific herring, small, silver-coloured fish, are the most abundant fish species in Canada's Pacific coastal waters. About 500 linear kilometres of British Columbia's coastline turn milky-white every March and April, as a result of the herring's release of countless sperm around the eggs (roe) spawned on algal beds. Pacific herring are central to ...

Multibeam Sonar Theory Mutibeam sonars, like side-scan sonars, use swath technology. However, unlike side-scan sonars, multibeam sonars produce better depth (bathymetry) data than backscatter data. Although backscatter is also recorded, the imagery acquired is generally of a lower quality than that recorded from side-scan sonars. (Information derived from "Acoustic Techniques for Seabed Classification" (2005) by ...

The Northcoast region has been undergoing dramatic changes with respect to how natural resources are being utilized. There is a need to diversify the resource industries in the community so that resources which are currently under stress will not be exhausted and new resources can be brought on line. This has led to the exploration ...

Ocean Ecology designed a towfish system to carry out seafloor mapping which used a single-beam sounder transducer mounted in a highly streamlined towfish that was towed at 1.5 m depth from an A-frame at the stern of our ship. This technique reduced the effects of pitch and roll on the transducer output, which can create ...

As a part of our approach to our work, we are always looking for ways to reduce our impact on the environment. After an evening's discussion with like-minded friends, we started putting our minds to the question "What would a sustainable research vessel look like?" After much mulling and some research, I  put our thoughts ...

Habitat Mapping Much of the research work that Ocean Ecology was involved in could be described as habitat mapping. When habitat mapping is carried out in the marine environment, the product is generally referred to as a "benthic habitat map" - a “spatial representation of physically distinct areas of seafloor that are associated with particular ...

Sidescan Sonar Theory Sidescan sonars use a swath of sound to esonify the seafloor. They differ from single-beam sounders in that they have a much larger footprint shape. However, like single-beam systems, they generate two main types of data, depth (or bathymetry) and backscatter. Traditionally, side scan sonars provide better backscatter data than depth data. ...

Kaien Island Model As a part of a project for Mavi Innovations Inc., Ocean Ecology developed an ocean circulation model for a region around Kaien Island. ROMS (Regional Ocean Modeling System) was chosen to carry out the ocean current studies. ROMS is a three-dimensional, free-surface, terrain-following numerical model that solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations (equations ...

Introduction The Skeena is the second largest river in the province, and one of the longest un-dammed rivers in the world. The Skeena River estuary is a unique system in that it does not have a single distinct intertidal delta typical of most estuary systems. Instead, suspended sediments are deposited in shoals along the lower ...

Introduction Generally situated in shallows and along complex shorelines highly valued by recreational users, eelgrass meadows are both ecologically valuable and potentially threatened. They provide rearing habitats for the juvenile stages of many species of fish, foraging habitats for both migratory and resident bird species, and recent research also suggests that eelgrass plays a critical ...

Who were We? Based out of Prince Rupert, we used our 40 foot research boat, the Moody Blue, and our 33 foot sail boat, the Awen, to carry out community-based, independent, scientific (biology, chemistry, and oceanography) research. We used low-cost, appropriate technology for our studies, which gave remote communities the opportunity to gather detailed information ...

Skeena River Estuary The Skeena River originates high in the coastal mountains of northwestern British Columbia, at the edge of the Spatsizi Plateau, and flows 610 km to reach the Pacific Ocean. Draining a total area of 54,400 km2, the Skeena is the second largest river in the province, and one of the longest un-dammed ...