Projects

ELSI Projects

• Dune Restoration Project

  ELSI initiated a pilot Dune Habitat Restoration project on the Coburg Peninsula in 2006. The goals of the project were to restore native dune habitats through the establishment of demonstration restoration plots, reduce trampling of sensitive dune habitat and raise public awareness of the fragility of the dunes and importance of stewardship. Read more >>

• Algal Blooms and Fish Kills

  In recent years several dense algal blooms have threatened the health of Esquimalt Lagoon. These algal blooms combined with very low night-time tides caused serious depletion of the oxygen levels in the lagoon (algae take up oxygen at night through respiration). These conditions are thought to have caused fish kills observed in 2008 and 2009. Stormwater sampling in the lagoon and adjacent areas was stepped up in 2009. A graduate student from the University of Victoria completed her MSc in 2012, focused on studies of phytoplankton communities in the lagoon. Read Arielle Kobryn's thesis: Kobryn 2012 - Harmful Algal Blooms.

• Community Fish Monitoring

  Since 2004, ELSI volunteers have conducted fish monitoring in a number of the creeks that flow into Esquimalt Lagoon. The goal is to determine the types of fish that use the creeks and to assess the restoration potential for the creeks. At the end of 2007, ELSI produced a report summarizing data collected from 2004 through to 2007. The fish monitoring confirmed that there are resident populations of cutthroat trout throughout Bee Creek and in the lower reaches of Colwood Creek. Coho salmon fry were found regularly in Colwood Creek.

• Community Water Quality Monitoring

  ELSI established a long-term contaminants monitoring program in Esquimalt Lagoon with community groups. The aim of this program is to monitor the long-term health of Esquimalt Lagoon and its associated wildlife habitat by observing water quality parameters and events leading up to and following turnover events (periods of water column inversion where the water becomes anoxic, or very low in oxygen). In 2007, the fifth year of water quality monitoring, ELSI partnered with Camosun College’s Environmental Technology Department. For several years, students in that program collected and analyzed data and proposed recommendations to the monitoring program.

• Dog On-Leash Bylaw

  At ELSI's urging the City of Colwood enacted a dog on-leash bylaw in July 2008 to ensure that federal regulations regarding pet control are upheld within the MBS. Colwood installed signs at the lagoon in the fall of 2009, and municipal bylaw officers monitor compliance.