| Summary: | A diagnostic tool of intertidal ecosystem health was created and tested at a study area in
southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The diagnostic tool was created to
promote a more holistic approach to intertidal ecosystem health assessment, in addition to
being simple, fast, inexpensive, and accessible. The diagnostic tool was generated after 6
coastal zone managers were interviewed and data were gathered on current practices and
challenges in ecosystem health assessment. Based on a conceptual model of intertidal
health drawing on the metaphor of the ecosystem as a household, the diagnostic tool was
designed with respondents' comments in mind. The tool is composed of a series of
questions that ask the practitioner to consider and judge the essential components of, and
their interactions within, an intertidal ecosystem to assess the overall health of a specific
site. To test the diagnostic tool, species and abundance data were collected from the
intertidal zone in the Cordova Bay area, during the summer of 2004. The survey
methodology followed the Shorekeepers' protocol for monitoring intertidal habitat in
Canada's Pacific Waters (Jamieson et al., 1999). The study area has known impacts
primarily from non-point sources of pollution and secondarily, from recreational use.
Three sites within the Cordova Bay study area were chosen to reflect the differing
severity of impacts. A high impact site, located directly at the mouth of Douglas Creek,
carries a large amount of pollutants from urban run-off. A low impact site was chosen
several hundred metres away from the mouth of the creek, with a moderately impacted
site in between the sites with high and low levels of impact. The field data were used to
test and evaluate the diagnostic tool based on its ability to meet the above criteria
(holistic approach, simple, fast, inexpensive, accessible). The results indicate that the
diagnostic tool is an appropriate first step in working towards an holistic assessment of
intertidal ecosystem health. Implications of this research for integrated coastal zone
management and future research are discussed in the final chapter of this paper. === Science, Faculty of === Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for === Graduate
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