6 www.georgianbay.ca GBA UPDATE Summer 2023 The third edition of Georgian Bay Biosphere’s (GBB) State of the Bay ecosystem health report will be available soon. Launched in 2008, the program is a collaboration among a network of partners dedicated to research, monitoring, and stewardship in eastern Georgian Bay. The State of the Bay report aims to communicate major themes and trends related to ecosystem health by summarizing the latest research every five years. Each cycle of the program includes a technical report based on scientific review, a widely distributed public magazine, a website and blogs, presentations and workshops, educational resources for schools, and a community conference. Last published in 2018, the upcoming State of the Bay aims to: ≥ Communicate general trends and stressors in the GBB region by reporting on a set of ecosystem health indicators based on available scientific research and monitoring ≥ Identify research needs and knowledge gaps and meet with partners to identify priorities and strategies to advance knowledge ≥ Showcase the important work of stewardship partners who are actively studying and monitoring changes to the natural environment, as well as those actively protecting and enhancing it New to this edition, the GBB is working with Indigenous advisors, contributing authors, and artists to incorporate Anishinaabek worldview and stories into the State of the Bay magazine. By respectfully listening to elders, knowledgeholders, language teachers, and Indigenous youth, cultural understandings are a gift that provide a much deeper and richer context for science and stewardship in Mnidoo Gamii, Great Lake of the Spirit. Known as “two-eyed seeing” (etuaptmumk) by Mi’kmaq elder Albert Marshall, and interpreted as “seeing both sides” (edwi-waabndamang) by Brian McInnes (Waabishki-mukwa) from Wasauksing First Nation, integrating Indigenous knowledge with science is seen by many as a way to bridge cultural understandings, and inform conservation and stewardship strategies based on generations of observations and storytelling about how the natural world is changing. The State of the Bay reports on research and trends for Lake Huron-Georgian Bay reviewed by experts on water quality, wetlands, the lower food web, fish species, coastal wetlands, landscape biodiversity, and climate change. Several indicators are used to benchmark changes in the environment, including total phosphorus levels, benthic invertebrates, native fish populations, and invasive species. While not all these indicators show dramatic or even noticeable change over a five-year period, new data is added to monitor longer-term trends. For example, the shocking decline of phosphorus in Lake Huron (a key nutrient in the food web) and what impacts that may have on the lower food web and fish populations demands continued research. The legacy of invasive zebra and quagga mussels as filter feeders is still being felt within the ecosystem. Waves of invasive species, such as round gobies and invasive plants like phragmites, each have their own complex ecosystem effects and remediation strategies. Compounding the complex local changes in the biotic community are impacts of weather and climate. We have lived ENVIRONMENT By Katrina Krievins and Becky Pollock, Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere State of the Bay: Ecosystem Health Report 2023 2018 Technical Report for Eastern & Northern Georgian Bay stateofthebay.ca Photo: Georgian Bay Biosphere
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