A serene scene of a small motorboat with three people gliding over calm, misty blue water. The horizon blends softly into the sky, creating a tranquil atmosphere.

Coastal Ecosystems Project

The Coastal Ecosystem Project builds a sustainable, Indigenous-led assessment program to support Cree action concerning coastal habitats of Eeyou Istchee on the Eastern Coast of James Bay, Québec. The project focuses on eelgrass, a marine plant important to coastal Cree culture through its ecological support of waterfowl and fish.

  • Start Date: January 1, 2025

In this region, eelgrass (Zostera marina) historically supported a vast coastal habitat that reliably supported a seasonal waterfowl migration. In the late 1990s, eelgrass in Eeyou Istchee disappeared along much of the coast. The decline is attributed to hydrological changes related to hydroelectric power, marine climate change and ecological feedbacks. Eelgrass habitats have failed to recover. In response, coastal Cree communities have built a partnership with government and researchers to develop a research and monitoring program to support management of these habitats in the future.

This partnership brings together university researchers with expertise in ocean and ice science, remote sensing and eelgrass ecology to work together with Cree community stakeholders (Niskamoon Corporation and the Eeyou Marine Region Wildlife Board), Hydro-Québec, Parks Canada and Québec’s Centre d’expertise en gestion des risques d’incidents maritime (CEGRIM). Together, this team will advance scientific understanding of how the ice, rivers, sediments, and eelgrass are changing in the region and how to best support a sustainable future for the eelgrass and the wildlife that relies on it. The partnership will produce materials on eelgrass status and health, protocols and data pipelines for in situ and remote sensing monitoring, and recommendations for restoration in the region. It will also train 14 graduate, undergraduate and post-doctoral trainees over the course of the project, as well as Cree community partners and youth in the Eeyou Istchee region.

The Coastal Ecosystems Project has been awarded an NSERC Alliance grant, which will support research activities from 2025 to 2029. This funding will enhance our capacity to conduct collaborative, community-engaged research and contribute valuable knowledge to guide environmental monitoring and stewardship efforts in Eeyou Istchee.

 

 

 

Academic Research Team

  • Principal Investigator Mary I. O’Connor, University of British Columbia
  • Co-PI Zou Zou Kuzyk, University of Manitoba
  • Co-PI Jens Ehn, University of Manitoba
  • Co-PI Fanny Noisette, UQAR/ISMER
  • Co-PI Simon Bélanger, UQAR

Graduate students

  • Nicole Knight (post-doctoral fellow, University of British Columbia)
  • John Merlo-Coyne (PhD student, University of British Columbia)
  • Alexi Ebersole (master's student, University of British Columbia)
  • Kaushik Gupta (post-doctoral fellow, University of Manitoba)
  • Daniela Walch (PhD student, UQAR)
  • Lauriane Belle-Isles (PhD student, ISMER)

Staff members

  • Caroline Fink-Mercier (Coastal Ecosystems Project coordinator)
  • Alessia Guzzi (Assists with community engagement and fieldwork support)

Cree Partners

  • Niskamoon Corporation

Regional Partner

  • Eeyou Marine Region Wildlife Board

Industry Partner

  • Hydro-Québec

Provincial (Québec) Partner

  • Québec's Centre d'expertise en gestion des risques d'incidents maritime (CEGRIM)

Fededal Partner

  • Parks Canada