Editor:
Unfortunately, when the subject of barges in Gibsons Harbour came up (“Gibsons mayor promises action on barges,” Oct. 16, and response letters on Oct. 23), the most important point was missed by all. The crucial factor in considering the barges and what to do with them is the sensitive habitat below them.
The harbour bottom is a very important growing site for eelgrass, Zostera marina. This true plant, which grows from rhizome roots, stabilizes the sea floor, captures suspended sediments (making it a carbon sink and purifying the ocean), and is a nursery habitat for many species of fish (herring, juvenile salmon, nudibranchs, jellyfish, crab, sea stars, moon snails, to name a few). It shelters, provides food, and is a migration corridor, as well as crucial transition area for salmon smolts heading to sea. These amazing meadows produce an incredible amount of oxygen for the ocean and for us.
It is estimated that over 80 per cent of commercial fish and shellfish species depend on eelgrass habitat at some point in their life cycle.
Eelgrass, like all photosynthetic plants, needs sunlight to grow, and the shading caused by floating vessels kills the eelgrass over time and fragments the bed, weakening it.
Being dependent on light penetration, the eelgrass in Gibsons Harbour only grows to a depth of approximately eight meters.
So what can we do about the barges? By moving large objects such as barges into deeper water, this shading is prevented. Anchoring in eelgrass causes chain scouring and shading in a radius around the anchor caused by tides and winds. Permanent moorages could be provided out of eelgrass beds, and “no anchoring zones” established where anchoring is unsafe for the eelgrass habitat and the boaters.
Dianne Sanford, Roberts Creek
