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Community Hydrography: Empowering coastal communities

Community Hydrography: Empowering coastal communities (PDF 3 MB)

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Introduction

The Community Hydrography Program is a DFO five-year initiative (2022-2027) part of the Oceans Protections Plan, that aims at empowering coastal communities in collecting and using bathymetric data. A great number of projects were launched in 2023 and we are happy to share the main highlights in this report.

The projects were successful in large part due to the interest and the curiosity communities have shown in learning about hydrography. Transport Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard also played a key role in welcoming our efforts and enabling fruitful projects with collaboration across the country.

As you will see in the following pages, community hydrography touches on various aspects, such as;

We hope this report will help inspire and foster interest for hydrography in coastal communities in Canada.

Communication and engagement

In 2023, the Community Hydrography Program prioritized communication and engagement with stakeholders.  Community Hydrography staff attended a number of in-person and online stakeholder meetings this year, including:

Those events were leveraged to present the Program and engage with coastal communities. Through this engagement, the Program team and partnering communities established relationships that were:

Ecosystems and Oceans Science Contribution Framework

Through the Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO) Ecosystems and Oceans Science Contribution Framework, the Community Hydrography Program funded 6 projects in 2023. 4 provided funding and resources directly to communities to support them in collecting and using bathymetric data; the other 2 supported academia with ventures that we believe will benefit coastal communities

Projects

Data collection with bathymetric data loggers

The Community Hydrography Program supports communities in building and strengthening their bathymetric data collection capacity, using simple and low maintenance equipment. A bathymetric data logger is a small device that records;

This equipment is ideal for beginners in hydrography.

In 2023, the team worked with different communities and installed nine bathymetric data loggers.

Satellite-derived Bathymetry (SDB)

Satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) is a valuable complement to community-led surveys as it measures the depth of water using satellite imagery. A great example of this is the Inukjuak Community, where SDB was used as reconnaissance to securely plan a bathymetric survey in October 2023 aboard the Arvik.

About the process:

  1. The community identified an area of interest, in this case the Inukjuak Marine Region (IMR), an important corridor and a traditional Inuit hunting ground.
  2. SDB was used as reconnaissance to securely plan a bathymetric survey.
  3. A line pattern was drawn to avoid possible hazards, notably shoals and rocks in nearshore areas
  4. Inukjuak survey team used the survey line pattern to safely collect bathymetric data.

SDB simplifies planning for on-water surveys and data collection, saving time and efforts for communities involved in hydrographic projects.

Multibeam echosounder data collection

In addition to bathymetric data loggers and satellite-derived-bathymetry, the Community Hydrography Program has a number of portable multibeam echosounders that can be deployed on any type of vessel.

A multibeam echosounder survey was planned and conducted in 2023 as part of the Anguniaqvia Niqiqyuam Marine Protected Area (ANMPA) Habitat Mapping Project. Prior to field deployment, the Paulatuk Hunters and Trappers Committee (PHTC) identified and prioritized areas of interest during a workshop held in Paulatuk from April 24 to 26, 2023.

The survey mission took place from August 28 to September 3, 2023, and was led by Angus Green and Terrence “Leo” Green on behalf of the PHTC. 2 vessels were sent out for this survey, the Frosti and its rapid research and rescue vessel. Both vessels were outfitted with a Norbit iWBMS multibeam hydrographic survey system.

More than 100 km² of multibeam data was collected during the ANMPA Habitat Mapping Project in 2023. Having community members from Paulatuk participating in the survey operations helped the mission. Their local knowledge were essential to identify the near-shore areas of importance to the community and define the navigation corridors.

Tools for processing the collected data

Accounting for tide is 1 of the most important steps when processing bathymetric data. For data to be useful, it must be adjusted to a common reference which, in hydrography, is the chart datum. This refers to the lowest normal tide so that the water level will seldom fall below it.

Tidal reduction is the process of subtracting the tidal-water portion of the measured depths. Once reduced, the depths are then all adjusted to the same reference.

In 2023, the Program team developed a tool to automate tidal reduction. Though the team is currently using it to support various projects, the ultimate goal is to make the tool open source, so it can be leveraged by any community.

The Program helped Aklavik and Tuktoyaktuk, two Northern Villages located in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR) of the Northwest Territories, to conduct tidal reduction on 10,400 km of data they had collected.

UMap, a tool for map creation

Maps are essential tools for representing underwater features. The Community Hydrography Program believes that creating maps for communities in a timely manner has a great impact in their activities. This is why efforts were put into building a tool to help communities visualize hydrographic data on a map with as little delay as possible.

UMap is a free tool for the open-source software Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS). UMap requires three inputs for the area of interest to be mapped:

  1. extent of the area of interest
  2. coastline
  3. 1 or more bathymetric datasets

Data visualization with the Enhanced Maritime Situational Awareness (EMSA) portal

The Enhanced Maritime Situational Awareness (EMSA) system is a web platform that has been co-developed by Transport Canada and 13 Indigenous partners across Canada. The EMSA portal provides near real-time vessel locations and other marine environmental information in local waters while protecting and honouring Indigenous knowledge and data. Since its launch in 2019, EMSA has grown to have over 900 users, including 90 different Indigenous communities across Canada.

Data collected as part of the Program can easily be uploaded to the EMSA portal. The portal is accessible online as well as on the EMSA App so that communities collecting bathymetric data can conveniently access their community maps, which are at their fingertips at all times.

Working relationship

This year, we have developed a working relationship with many people from;

The Community Hydrography team at the Canadian Hydrographic Service extends our kind thanks to all of them.

And our DFO Ecosystems and Oceans Science sector colleagues;

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