Looking for a really interesting volunteer opportunity right here in False Creek?
Consider becoming a Light Trapper!
The Light Trap study is part of Hakai’s “Sentinels of Change” initiative, aimed at studying significant, potentially harmful alterations in the marine environment. –
We’re all getting used to the idea that when it comes to climate change, we’re all becoming the proverbial “canary in the coal mine,” and by studying the larval form of the Dungeness crab scientists can learn more about the impact of climate change.
The light trap is a device that attracts the baby crabs into a container at night. Lights come on at preset times – the littler critters are attracted to the light, and then can’t get out til volunteers remove and count them in the daytime – and then release the baby crabs unhurt the next day.
How is the species doing up and down the Salish Sea? Is it reproducing well, its larvae happy and thriving? To find out, Hakai has built a number of Light Traps – a device that lures passing sea critters with very bright underwater lights into the trap, where they can be observed, counted. Ultimately, the data collected will help us all protect the biodiversity of our marine environment
The Dungeness crab has been incredibly important to Indigenous Peoples up and down the entire Salish Sea, and is still one of the most lucrative fisheries on the Pacific west coast, from Alaska to California. Given this importance, US native tribes have put tremendous efforts into a formal, scientific study of this crab, to ensure its sustainability far into the future, and British Columbia’s Indigenous Peoples are doing likewise. The urgency to understand the entire life cycle of the Dungeness has been taken up by British Columbia’s Hakai Institute, which is working in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group and the UN’s Ocean Decade initiative – “The Science We Need for the Ocean We Want”.
This is a major project involving 40+ communities along the entire length of the Salish Sea. Are you looking for a meaningful conservation experience? Great! We are looking for volunteers!!! If you are interested, please fill in the form below – one of us will get back to you and discuss whether this amazing stewardship activity is right for you.
We need your help!
Co-ordinator – she’s looking for volunteers right now!
Please sign up! Each session will take approximately one hour. Families most welcome! This is a real, engaging STEM adventure for all ages – you never know what kind of outrageous creature you might find when the trap is opened up!
Volunteer Maggy Spence is our Light Trap Coordinator. If you have any questions, you can reach her by filling out the form below, or by email.
The larvae are counted and measured, and the information collected is inputted into a digital database. This will go on all summer.
If you are interested, please fill in the form below – one of us will get back to you and discuss whether this amazing stewardship activity is right for you.
And for a superb article on this project, click this link!