Tofino
Welcome to Tofino Inlet
Tofino Inlet is located off the West Coast of Vancouver Island located in Clayoquot Sound. This is a glacially formed fjord that has two heads that have freshwater flowing in from Tofino Creek, and Tranquil Creek. The small human population in Clayoquot Sound attracts tourism for fishing, while Tofino inlet itself has 3 commercial fish farm locations. Tofino itself became popular for logging, surfing, and its pristine ecosystems.
The maximum depth of Tofino inlet is 120 meters, and the shallow sill is 12 meters deep. This sill will create anoxic bottom layers in stations above and near the sill, where there is a lack of dissolved oxygen. This causes dead zones where animals and ecosystems cannot thrive. This is because the sill blocks the mixing of ocean and freshwater, which creates a non-productive layer from the lack of oxygen.
Figure 1. Tofino looking up near the head of the inlet
Figure 2. Fish Farm in Tofino Inlet near station 45 taken in 2008
Clayoquot Sound has been home to fish farming for many years. There are 16 active fish pens located across Clayoquot Sound with Tofino having 2 inactive sites, and 3 active sites. As seen in Figure 2, fish farms are open pen systems and are harvesting salmon. A majority of the fish farms that are in Clayoquot are either owned by Cermaq Canada, but the 3 that are located in Tofino Inlet that are active are owned by Creative Salmon.
Figure 3. Clear cut grown back from logging taken in 2018
Figure 4. Landslide from logging taken in 2012
Clayoquot Sound has a high representation of Coastal Western Hemlock. Logging in Tofino began to expain after 1959 when the first logging road was put in to connect Port Alberni to Tofino. Since the BC government oversees the area of Clayoquot Sound, they allocate how much timber can be cut and to disperse this information to fellow timber companies for that year, and works closely with First Nations. Beginning in the 1980s when the government relaxed their guidelines on logging and let the companies decide what was sustainable for the ecosystem. With the lack of guidelines on logging, there was an increase in logging, which caused a decrease with consultations with the First Nations. MacMillan Bloedel was the logging company that began clear cutting Clayoquot Sound. In 1993, protestors began emerging into Tofino to stop the clear cutting that was occurring, which brought more attention to the area and its pristine ecosystems. In 2000, it became and UNESCO biosphere reserve for the diverse range of ecosystems.
Sampling Stations
Tofino Inlet has 19 sampling stations. During 2015, Tofino inlet had no nutrient samples taken.
Figure 5. Tofino Inlet station map
Meteorological Conditions
Meteorological Conditions sampled at Tofino Airport on September 14th, 2015. Data provided is Temperature, Pressure, Wind Direction, and Wind Speed.
Figure 6 shows how temperature increases over the course of the day but will dip in temperature at sunrise, since that is generally the coldest time of the day. Over the course of the day as temperature increases, the pressure will decrease, as seen in Figure 7.
Figure 8 shows the direction of the wind goes from 0 to 300 over the course of the sun being out, and after it sets it starts to shift down again. In figure 8, the wind speed decreases during the sunrise, but as the sun begins to come out the speed increases and then drops again after the sunsets.
Tidal Patterns During Sampling Period
Tidal data was taken from a tidal gauge in Tofino and shows the tide heights each day from September 13-15. Since no samples were taken in Tofino, these days were selected.
Nutrient Choropleth Maps
No nutrient data was collected for Tofino Inlet for 2015
Water Property Sections
Water properties taken in Tofino Inlet with a CTD include temperature, salinity, density, dissolved oxygen, fluorescence, and transmissivity. These sections give a view of the inlet as a cross section to understand nutrient availability.
Temperature
Salinity
Density
Oxygen
Fluorescence
Transmissivity
Compared to the samples taken in the fall of 2013, the Temperature in Tofino Inlet is relatively warmer. The marine heat wave caused an intrusion of warmer water which is visible in this surfer section across Tofino Inlet. The water temperature coming from the fresh water river, is slightly warmer and more dense. Near station 51 and 52, cold water gets stuck in the shallow sill which has a lower temperature, slightly more dense, and salty compared to the rest of the inlet. As density increases, the salinity of the water will increase down the gradient pictured in these surfer sections.
Oxygen, Fluorescence, and Transmissivity are closely tied together. The dissolved oxygen level becomes anoxic near stations 51 and 52 due to the sill blocking the mixing that would occur if the sill was not there, and dissolved oxygen is also high near the surface due to photosynthesis. The fluorescence activity is relatively low for this year, but shown in both fluorescence and transmissivity you can see where the phytoplankton are. The more fluorescence there is, the less transmissivity there will be.
Page Developed By Chanda Hanson