Close to the breakwater on Dallas Road in Victoria, the ocean is filled with lush kelp forests just below the water’s surface.
“The kelp is thriving due to the cold water conditions,” mentioned Brian Timmer, a doctoral student at the University of Victoria (UVic). “However, in various parts of British Columbia, we are observing localized warming known as microclimates.”
These areas once had flourishing kelp forests but have since vanished, as revealed in a recent study led by Timmer from UVic, which was published in Ecological Applications.
The research team utilized historical data on kelp and associated macroalgae communities in the northern Salish Sea, dating back to 1972, by examining maps, scuba surveys, and aerial photographs.
In 2023, they compared these findings with current images and surveys.
The study revealed that expansive bull kelp forests once covered over 5.5 million square meters of the northern Salish Sea’s surface near the Comox and Denman Island region.
This amount is ten times greater than the previously acknowledged baseline established around 2000, according to Timmer.
Today, none of those kelp forests exist, with satellite data indicating that the majority of bull kelp loss occurred between 1972 and 1984 within the area.
Recent heatwaves, like the “Blob” event from 2014 to 2016, were initially blamed for the disappearance of B.C.’s bull kelp forests, as per a study. However, Timmer’s research suggests that the most significant loss occurred many years earlier.
Timmer highlighted a warm water pocket within the Strait of Georgia, near Comox and Denman Island, which is among the top 10% of global ocean warming zones.
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