Using Citizen Science to Expand Our Research Capacity and Increase Public Engagement in Conservation
The Return of a Keystone Species
In collaboration with our ongoing kelp distribution research, we have begun monitoring the presence of sea otters in and around the Broughton Archipelago. Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are a keystone species to subtidal marine ecosystems of the Pacific North West. This means they play an integral role in maintaining the connectivity of food webs. Specifically, sea otters are a critical predator for sea urchins who prey upon the roots or “holdfasts” of kelp forests.
Without sea otters to keep the urchin populations in check, these small but mighty echinoderms can graze away entire kelp forests, destroying foundational habitat for other organisms who live in and around the kelp. For this reason, Salmon Coast is interested in better understanding the relationship between sea otter populations and kelp forest distributions in the Broughton Archipelago.
Get Involved
We are asking local community members and neighbouring organisations to support these efforts in documenting any sightings of sea otters using the iNaturalist app or website. Citizen science initiatives such as this allow us to increase the scale of monitoring these species whose presence may be rare or difficult to observe.
While submitting, you will be prompted to include information about the sighting such as location, time, date, conditions, etc. You may include a photo, but it is also not necessary.
Find out more about our work by checking out our regular reports and related publications
Check out our sea lice reports for each year, which provide detailed information on the year's monitoring findings.
View our complete list of publications for many more articles based on sea lice research conducted at Salmon Coast.