Projects

VEHEAP and partners have undertaken several projects and studies in the CRD core area harbours. Click on the links below to find out more.

Harbours Atlas

The Harbours Atlas, housed through the Regional Community Atlas, is a web-based information and mapping tool that brings together environmental and land information for the harbours and their watersheds. Users are able to retrieve ecological and geographic data from over 70 layers of spatial information including:

• harbour vegetation
• marine fauna
• sediment and substrate types
• sensitive shoreline habitats
• seasonal bird use and density
• underwater videos

Harbours Ecological Inventory and Rating (HEIR) Project

VEHEAP initiated a major project in 1997 to inventory and rate the biological and physical features of the backshore, intertidal and subtidal portions of Victoria and Esquimalt harbours. On the basis of the information gathered, shoreline sections, or units, were rated according to ecological value, vulnerability to development and priority for action.

View the reports for more details:

• HEIR Report: Intertidal and Backshore
• HEIR Report: Appendices
• Subtidal Survey - Esquimalt Harbour
• Subtidal Survey - Esquimalt Lagoon: Report
• Subtidal Survey - Esquimalt Lagoon: Maps
• Subtidal Survey - Portage Inlet and Gorge Waterway: Report
• Subtidal Survey - Portage Inlet and Gorge Waterway: Maps
• Subtidal Survey - Victoria Harbour

2019 Harbour Inventory Pilot Study

In preparation for updating the ecological inventory of the harbours, the CRD hired a consultant in 2019 to assess the suitability of using remote sensing imagery for undertaking the inventories. Read the full report here:

• CRD Pilot Harbours Ecological Inventory (PDF)