Clean Coasts
Projects
Navigators
Status: Ongoing
Funder: Province of Nova Scotia
Project description
The Government of Nova Scotia’s Coastal Hazard Mapping Tool helps Nova Scotians make informed decisions to protect their coastal property from the impacts of climate change. Our Navigators are available to help Nova Scotians use the tool, understand the information and provide them with additional related resources. The navigators also help raise awareness and understanding of coastal hazards (flood/erosion risks), as well as provide tools/information for coastal property owners to support adaptation efforts, including the resource library you can explore below.
Resource library
Project assets
Wetlands: front line defenders against Farming Pollution
Addressing Agricultural Water Quality Issues in Salt Marshes
Status: Ongoing
Funder: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Project description
Agricultural practices can lead to poor water quality conditions by contributing elevated nutrients and fecal input into the water source resulting in algal blooms and poor fish health. Wetlands are valuable systems that can help reduce nutrients, harmful bacteria and sediment levels in waterways. Clean Coasts explores wetland enhancements that can help improve water quality in creeks and downstream areas of agricultural land.
Through support from CB Wetland and Environmental Specialists, Save the Bay Narangansett and the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, Clean Coasts will be completing work in Antigonish and the Northumberland Strait. In Antigonish, our team will establish, and monitor, a riparian buffer around a tidal creek that drains water run-off from croplands. Alongside this work, we are studying water quality and will provide recommendations for several watersheds in the Northumberland Strait.
Project assets
Blue Carbon Counts
Understanding How Coastal Ecosystems Sequester Carbon to Combat Climate Change
Status: Completed
Funder: Royal Bank of Canada
Project description
Until now, it has not been possible to determine how much carbon is stored in Nova Scotia’s coastal wetlands. Clean Coasts has helped change this with the purchase of a specialized aerial drone with LIDAR-sensing capabilities. So far, this cutting-edge technology has been used by the team to estimate the volume of stored carbon in two salt marshes in northern Nova Scotia.
In 2021, with the support from the Nuji kelo’toqatijik (Earth Keepers), the Incoast Lab at St. Mary’s University and Boreas Heritage, the team was able to collect blue carbon samples at the Brule Shore salt marsh. The information gathered was used to quantify the amount of blue carbon stored in the soil. This work helps prove the viability of LIDAR technology which can be used to help start building a blue carbon inventory for Nova Scotia. Information that is vital to better understand how protecting and restoring Nova Scotia’s coastal wetlands can help reduce carbon emissions.
Preserving the Northumberland Strait
Coastal Restoration Foundation (CRF) Project
Status: Completed
Funder: Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)
Project description
Nearly 70 per cent of Nova Scotia’s salt marshes have been lost due to development, infrastructure and agriculture. These vital ecosystems help combat climate change, provide habitat for wildlife and protect communities from storm surge and sea level rise.
Funded by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the Northumberland Strait Coastal Restoration Project aimed to restore 15 hectares of salt marsh habitat that had been impacted by humans along the North Shore. This five-year project helped identify, restore and monitor salt marsh habitat and build capacity to help local communities become care takers of the areas in which they live.
Projects included:
- a tidal barrier audit in the Northumberland Strait region;
- a culvert to bridge replacement in Trenton;
- a runnel restoration in Ferguson’s Cove and Brule Point; and
- a living shoreline in Pictou Landing First Nation.
Project assets
Project partners
Washing away barriers in Pugwash River
Nova Scotia Salmon Association (NSSA) Project
Status: Completed
Funder: Nova Scotia Salmon Association
Project description
Funded by the Nova Scotia Salmon Association (NSSA), in partnership with the Friends of Pugwash Estuary (FOPE), Clean Coasts performed both fish habitat and culvert assessments in the Pugwash Watershed during the summer and fall of 2021. A follow-up to work previously completed by FOPE in partnership with NSSA, Clean Coasts revisited sites where assessments and restoration work had previously taken place. Here, they monitored for changes in the ecosystem and addressed any barriers to fish (salmon and trout) passage in streams in the Pugwash Watershed. Fish rely on open streams to swim freely and access essential resources for survival. As culverts can act as barriers for fish, assessing culverts and fish habitat conditions helps identify areas that require restoration efforts.
Project partners
Reef Ball Program
Status: Ongoing
Funder: Environment and Climate Change Canada through the Environmental Damages Fund
Project description
Clean Coasts launched the Atlantic Reef Ball program to create, install and monitor artificial reefs in the Halifax Harbour. Artificial reefs are designed to restore marine habitat by fostering the growth of an ecosystem that supports fish and shellfish populations. In addition to providing shelter and protection to fish species, artificial reefs support the growth of marine plants, like algae or seaweed, which are foundational species in these ecosystems. They also serve as habitat for spawning and reproduction for many types of fish and shellfish making them critical to the success of population growth. Since 2013, 472 reef balls have been deployed in the Halifax Harbour, representing 85,000 square metres of marine habitat or almost 16 football fields.
Project assets
Project partners
Cool retreat for fish
Status: Ongoing
Funder: Royal Bank of Canada through the Tech for Nature Fund
Project description
In the face of climate change, Nova Scotia’s rivers are getting warmer. Warming is further exacerbated by the declining vegetation in riparian zones, as plants play a crucial role in regulating water temperatures. Now, native fish species are vulnerable as their survival depends on retreating in cool water pools. Clean Coasts is currently addressing this issue with the purchase of a multispectral thermal camera to attach to a specialized aerial drone.
With the support of RBC, in partnership with the Friends of Pugwash Estuary (FOPE) and Nova Scotia Salmon Association, access to this technology has offered the opportunity to map out cold water refuge areas throughout the Pugwash watershed in northern Nova Scotia. Information that identifies priority areas along the Pugwash River for restoration and conservation efforts, ultimately improving habitat conditions and overall ecosystem health.
Project partners
Contact us
Have questions for the Clean Coasts team about our programs or services?
Newsletter
Stay in the know with Clean Coasts. Subscribe to our seasonal newsletter.