Coastal ocean dynamics and primary productivity near traditional Indigenous clam gardens in Fulford Harbour, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

Along the Pacific coasts of British Columbia and Alaska, it has recently come back into knowledge that Indigenous communities traditionally built and maintained clam gardens in the intertidal zone by clearing rocks, aerating sediments, and/or building rock walls. Since 2014, Parks Canada has been working with First Nations advisors of the W̱SÁNEĆ and Hul\u27qumi\u27num Treaty Groups in the Gulf Islands National Parks Reserve on the restoration of two ancient clam gardens in the Fulford Harbour area, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. Royal Roads University is a partner in this restoration project, and as part of the partnership this research involves the measurement of water properties and primary productivity near the Fulford Harbour area clam gardens for the purpose of investigating seasonal coastal ocean dynamics in the area. While this research is exploratory in nature, a central research question is “what is the timing and quantity of delivery of coastal ocean primary productivity in waters near the Fulford Harbour clam gardens; and how is this impacted by coastal ocean dynamics interpreted from water property data, and tidal and weather records?” This research would be the first ever study of coastal ocean dynamics and primary productivity delivery at the site of ancient clam gardens, adding to the growing body of research on clam gardens and complementing the existing Traditional Ecological Knowledge of these eco-cultural landscapes. The field monitoring program involves monthly in situ measurements of water properties including temperature, depth, conductivity, turbidity, and fluorescence (as a proxy for chlorophyll a, and thus an indication of primary productivity). Field monitoring has been conducted on five occasions so far, and water property data are being continually processed as monthly monitoring transects are completed through August 2018