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Discovering Kwilakm
  • Discovering Kwilákm
  • About
  • Get Involved
  • Changing Climate
    • Hotter Ocean Temperatures
    • Changing Ocean Chemistry
    • Rising Sea Levels and Intensifying Winter Storms
    • When Seashore Temperatures Spike – Killer Heat Dome 2021
  • Terminal Creek
    • Where does Terminal Creek’s Water Come From?
    • Signal Crayfish
    • Terminal Creek Fish Hatchery
  • The Lagoon
    • The Tidal Inlet that became the Lagoon
    • Aquatic Plants
    • Chum Salmon
    • The Beaver
    • Canada Geese
    • Three-Spined Stickleback
  • Shores
    • Nearshore Forests
    • Beaches
    • The Terminal Creek Sand Flats
    • The Curious Clay Beds of Kwilákm
    • Blue Mussels
    • Clams
    • Purple Stars
    • Oysters in Kwilákm
  • Shallows
    • Eelgrass
    • Young Chum Salmon
    • Winter Bay Birds
    • Year-Round Bay Birds
  • Deeper Waters
    • Plankton
    • Northern Anchovy
    • Harbour Seal
    • Octopus
Conservancy logoBowen Island Conservancy
    • About
    • Get Involved
  • Discovering Kwilákm
    • About
    • Get Involved
  • Changing Climate
    • Hotter Ocean Temperatures
    • Changing Ocean Chemistry
    • Rising Sea Levels and Intensifying Winter Storms
    • When Seashore Temperatures Spike – Killer Heat Dome 2021
  • Terminal Creek
    • Where does Terminal Creek’s Water Come From?
    • Signal Crayfish
    • Terminal Creek Fish Hatchery
  • The Lagoon
    • The Tidal Inlet that became the Lagoon
    • Aquatic Plants
    • Chum Salmon
    • The Beaver
    • Canada Geese
    • Three-Spined Stickleback
  • Shores
    • Nearshore Forests
    • Beaches
    • The Terminal Creek Sand Flats
    • The Curious Clay Beds of Kwilákm
    • Blue Mussels
    • Clams
    • Purple Stars
    • Oysters in Kwilákm
  • Shallows
    • Eelgrass
    • Young Chum Salmon
    • Winter Bay Birds
    • Year-Round Bay Birds
  • Deeper Waters
    • Plankton
    • Northern Anchovy
    • Harbour Seal
    • Octopus
Stormy-Sea-Causeway-

Photo: Will Husby

Changing Climate

Hotter Ocean Temperatures

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Discover Kwilakm » Story » Changing Climate » Hotter Ocean Temperatures

As the world’s oceans absorb heat from the atmosphere, marine life is attempting to shift towards the poles to stay cool. For instance, in recent years, large schools of northern anchovy, more commonly found off the coast of California, have begun making regular appearances in Atl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound and Kwilákm.

Northern Anchovy
“Northern Anchovies, Engraulis mordax” by J. Maughn is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Bowen snorkelers now see juvenile anchovy in the summer in Kwilákm, indicating that anchovy have begun breeding here as year-round residents. The anchovy, in turn, have become an important food for humpback whales, sea lions, and seals (all three are doing very well), and seabirds. Interestingly, the number of California sea lions wintering in BC has also increased. Are the sea lions following the anchovy north? More on Anchovy and other forage fish.

Warmer river and ocean temperatures have many negative impacts on cool-water species like the chum salmon raised in the Terminal Creek Fish Hatchery, released into the Lagoon, and living in Kwilákm as juvenile fish. Warmer waters bring more California sea lions to BC waters which, along with a booming seal population, means salmon are facing more predators. The warming sea also means fewer zooplankton (tiny animals drifting in the oceans) that salmon rely on for food. Scientists have calculated it takes roughly one ton of zooplankton to produce a single 5 kg salmon under ideal conditions. High temperatures in the river and creeks where salmon spawn, including in Terminal Creek, cause stress in fish. Salmon can die before reaching spawning grounds. More about Terminal Creek salmon.

As the world’s oceans are warming, some species are stressed or dying out. Others are not feeling the heat at all. Jellyfish, for instance, are thriving in the deoxygenated, warm water resulting from the climate crisis; their numbers are increasing.

More About Changing Climate

  • Kwilákm and the Changing Climate
  • Hotter Ocean Temperatures
  • Changing Ocean Chemistry
  • Rising Sea Levels and Intensifying Winter Storms
  • When Seashore Temperatures Spike – Killer Heat Dome 2021

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