Eelgrass (Mainland 2019)

In July 2019, staff from the Guide co-presented with Moonstone Enterprises to the Town of Gibsons’ mayor and council about the status of eelgrass restoration and monitoring in the Sound, and announced that the Guide would survey the Sound’s mainland eelgrass in the fall of 2019. Given the interest of the Town of Gibsons (“the Town”) in updating their foreshore eelgrass distribution maps (which had previously been surveyed in 2004 and 2013 by Dianne Sanford, sole proprietor of Moonstone Enterprises), councilors requested that the Guide survey the Town’s recreational water lease using the same methodology. The distribution of eelgrass (Zostera marina) was surveyed along the Sound's mainland shoreline, from Horseshoe Bay to Squamish to Gibsons. These data were collected during a survey in September 2019. This involved mapping the full extent of eelgrass beds to enable identifying changes in eelgrass distribution and health that have occurred between 2004-2019.