Pacific salmon caught in Arctic waters and a tropical dolphin swimming off Vancouver Island are two tales of climate change filtering into Ocean Networks sa国际传媒.
Anecdotes from witnesses and data collected by scientists will be part of an Ideafest event on Monday, March 4, that will give viewers a deeper understanding of what the warming climate means.
鈥淲e want to show how are all these changes that people are seeing and observing are effecting people鈥檚 abilities to fish and live on the coast,鈥� said Maia Hoeberechts, a scientist with Ocean Networks sa国际传媒 at the University of Victoria.
Hoeberechts will help co-ordinate a panel discussion and presentation called Climate Vision: What Can Indigenous Knowledge, Satellite Data and Cable Ocean Observation Tell Us About Our Changing Coast.
She said the presentation is meant to involve the audience. Onlookers are expected and encouraged to have questions about what climate change is doing to sa国际传媒鈥檚 coastlines.
With a far-ranging discussion, it鈥檚 hoped they will get a good idea of what climate changes can mean for human communities, as well as plants, animals and the environment of sea and shore.
UVic鈥檚 Ocean Networks sa国际传媒 operates a variety of research projects on all three of sa国际传媒鈥檚 coasts, most notably the Pacific and Arctic. The agency is well known for its cabled observatories.
These observatories link sensory instruments to a cable laid along the ocean floor that is ultimately attached to data-collection facilities on land. The result is a constant stream of readings and measurements that are recorded and even available in real time.
Hoeberechts said she will be speaking on what the cabled observatories are revealing about the ice that covers the Arctic Ocean during winter freeze-up.
鈥淭he sea ice is diminishing, both in terms of the extent of the聽ice and the thickness of the ice,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he other thing we are seeing is the freeze-up is coming later and the breakup of the ice occurs earlier.鈥�
鈥淭hat sea ice is critical to the coastal communities for transportation, recreation, hunting, culture,鈥� said Hoeberechts.
But she said Ocean Networks sa国际传媒 is attempting to go a step further than data that measure environmental conditions such as ice thickness.
The agency is reaching out to coastal settlements, including Indigenous communities, to get a better sense of what the changes mean for people, as well as the ocean environment.
鈥淲e have been trying to understand just how much the ice is changing and what observations people have made and how much it is affecting their activity,鈥� said Hoeberechts.
鈥淭hings like changing migration routes of animals or people鈥檚 abilities to get to traditional hunting grounds can have impacts,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t has become very difficult to reach areas where people have been hunting for generations.鈥�
Climate Visions will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday at the First People鈥檚 House at UVic.
Anyone interested in climate can also check out a special screening of Beyond Climate at the Farquhar Auditorium, Saturday, March 9 at 7-9 p.m. It鈥檚 a film documenting climate impacts on people of sa国际传媒
After the film, viewers can listen to a panel discussion with scientist David Suzuki, filmmaker Ian Mauro, director of the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions Sybil Seitzinger and Heiltsuk First Nation member Frank Brown.
It鈥檚 the only Ideafest session requiring admission, $10 for adults, $5 for students.
For more on Ideafest, go to to find a full calendar.
