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Chapter 2 – Getting to Know Your Shoreline Neighbours

With the term ‘shoreline neighbours’, we are referring to all the organisms living at the
land/sea interface — both on land and in the ocean! These organisms rely on healthy
shorelines just as we do . Many of our shoreline neighbours that live and depend on the
Salish Sea are not always visible from shore and require a closer look . Your shoreline
neighbours will differ depending on many factors, one being whether you live near
a sandy beach or a rocky one .

In sandy environments, you may find clams, crabs
and even grass that lives in the sea . This grass is
known as eelgrass and it forms underwater mead- Photo by: Mitch Miller
ows in sheltered bays and along shorelines where it
is sandy and muddy . Figure 2 .1 is a map of eelgrass
and kelp distribution around the Southern Gulf
Islands within the Strait of Georgia, the Canadian
part of the Salish Sea . Eelgrass has two ways that
it can reproduce, by their roots or ‘rhizomes’ and
by seed . Yes, they flower and get pollinated under
water! Eelgrass needs light to grow and survive,
so you will not find it under structures like docks .
Eelgrass helps settle sediment, prevents erosion,
sequesters carbon, and improves water quality . It
is also critical habitat for juvenile salmon: eelgrass
meadows serve as nursery areas where salmon can
find shelter and refuge . They are also important
places for salmon to forage: algae settles on the
eelgrass, invertebrates feed on this algae, and in
turn become food for juvenile salmon . Photo by: Ryan Miller

Contact Peninsula Streams Society or the Mount Arrowsmith
Biosphere Region Research Initiative (MABRRI) at Vancouver Island University

if you want to get involved in sampling your local beaches for forage fish!

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