IBA English Bay, Burrard Inlet & Howe Sound
Vancouver, British ColumbiaSite Summary BC020 Latitude
Longitude49.322° N
123.057° WElevation
Size0 m
335.00 km²
Habitats:
mud or sand flats (saline), inlets/coastal features (marine)Land Use:
Fisheries/aquaculture, Tourism/recreation, Urban/industrial/transportPotential or ongoing Threats:
Housing and urban areas, Commercial and industrial development, Shipping lanes, Recreational activities, Domestic and urban waste water, Industrial and military effluentsIBA Criteria: Globally Significant: Congregatory Species, Continentally Significant: Waterfowl Concentrations Conservation status: IBA Conservation Plan written/being written
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Site Description
Burrard Inlet is a sheltered fjord of Georgia Strait that encompasses all waters east of Point Atkinson in the north and Point Gray in the south. It includes False Creek and English Bay, Vancouver Harbour, Port Moody Arm and Indian Arm. This site incorporates a diversity of habitats from man-made beaches and industrial encroachment to the minimally impacted Indian River Estuary. Burrard Inlet lies between the city of Vancouver and the north shore municipalities of West Vancouver and North Vancouver. Several parks border the IBA, including Indian Arm Provincial Park, Belcarra Regional Park, Pacific Spirit Regional Park and Stanley Park. The main rivers flowing into the site are the Capilano, Seymour and Indian rivers. Tides reach 4 metres, and salinity levels are moderated by the nearby Fraser River and slow outflows from Indian Arm. The inlet is bounded to the north by the steep-walled, granitic Coast Mountains, and on the south by the densely urbanized areas of Vancouver. Most of the shoreline is rocky or built up with port facilities and seawalls, but there are extensive tidal sandflats at Spanish Banks and some remnant mudflats and saltwater marshes, such as those at Maplewood Flats and Port Moody Inlet.Howe Sound includes the tidal waters of southern Howe Sound from Point Atkinson to Anvil Island, and has a cluster of large and small islands, islets, rocks and reefs. 42 km long and 21 km wide at its entrance, Howe Sound is subject to daily tides that ebb and flow in the Salish Sea and the outflow of the Squamish River entering at its head. The freshwater of the river is clearly visible on some days as a silty grey colour arising from glacial and mountain water entering the river from the surrounding mountains.
Howe Sound was industrialized in the early to late 20th century with concomitant environmental degradation followed by restoration efforts, continuing to the present day . The islands, rocks and reefs provide a foothold for a carpet of mussels and barnacles that is an important food source for the sea ducks and shorebirds that assemble in the Sound each autumn, winter and spring. The labyrinth of islands also attract large schools of fish that are important food for seabirds and marine mammals.
Howe Sound is rimmed with residential and industrial development interspersed with unpopulated forested areas. Houses line much of the waterfront in West Vancouver, Gibsons, Langdale and Lions Bay, as well as on Bowen and Keats islands. The rest of the shoreline is uninhabited or sparsely inhabited, and comprised of Native Reserve, private and public lands. Christie Islet off the south end of Anvil Island is a federal Migratory Bird Sanctuary.
Birds
Significant SpeciesThis IBA was designated for three species at the global level: Western Grebe, Barrow's Goldeneye and Surf Scoter; and one species at the national level: Great Blue Heron.
Historically, Western Grebes wintered here in globally significant numbers, with high counts ranging from 2,000-15,000 birds between 1980 and 1995, the highest concentrations occurring in the English Bay-First Narrows area. However, the species has declined steeply, and counts since 2000 typically range from < 100-500 individuals and on no occasion have exceeded the 1% global threshold. This significant decline has been noted throughout the Salish Sea (in British Columbia and Washington); the reasons for the decline of this forage fish feeder, which breeds in freshwater wetlands across western North America, are not clear, but are being investigated by conservation researchers.
Historically, globally significant numbers of wintering Barrow's Goldeneye were regularly recorded; the peak count of 7,126 individuals in 1990 then represented over 4% of the world estimated population. Since 2000, however, mid-winter combined counts by the British Columbia Coastal Waterbird Survey and standard surveys conducted in Indian Arm have ranged from 550 to 3,672 individuals with the maximum count representing about 1.5 % of the global population. These counts point to a local decline in wintering populations of this marine invertebrate feeder. The northern part of Indian Arm is also an important staging area in the spring for Barrow's Goldeneye on their way to breed on freshwater wetlands farther north.
The IBA also regularly supports more than 1% of the global Surf Scoter population, with >7,000 individuals confirmed in at least four winters since 2000. The species congregates with other sea ducks to feed on clams in the IBA's mud- and sandy-bottomed bays, with peaks in abundance typically occurring in late fall and early winter (October-December). The highest counts were 10,011 in November 2007 and 9,720 in January 2012.
In 2001, Great Blue Heron (faninni subspecies) established a nesting colony (termed a heronry) in Stanley Park; this species is listed under the federal Species at Risk Act (Special Concern). Since then, the number of breeding pairs has increased to well over 100 each year, with a peak count of 183 in 2007; this exceeds the 1% Canadian population threshold for the subspecies, and triggers national IBA status.
Other Species of Conservation Interest
This IBA supports many coastal and marine bird species characteristic of the Pacific Northwest (see links to seasonal abundance and annual frequency graphs above). One landbird that uses the IBA is the Purple Martin, which is unusual in British Columbia in that it only nests in man-made boxes over water (unlike its counterparts in the east). After being extirpated from the lower mainland in the 1940s, Purple Martin returned in 1996 after a nest box program was initiated at Maplewood Flats Conservation Area (Pridgeon 1997). Now, fifty or more pairs of Purple Martin typically nest within the IBA each year at Maplewood Flats and Rocky Point Park.
There is a large colony of Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorants nesting on the Second Narrows, Burrard Street, and Granville Street bridges and high tension power lines. Osprey and Bald Eagles also nest along the shore.
IBA Criteria Species↓ T | A | I Number Year Month Day Season A4i/ii B4i/ii/iii A1 B1 C1 Reference Barrow's Goldeneye 7,126 1990 WI 2,350 2,300 Watts & Breault 1996 Barrow's Goldeneye 1,901 2000 1 11 WI 2,350 2,300 BCCWS Barrow's Goldeneye 2,012 2000 12 10 WI 2,350 2,300 British Columbia Coastal Waterbirds Survey Barrow's Goldeneye 2,375 2003 12 28 WI 2,350 2,300 Christmas Bird Counts Barrow's Goldeneye 2,092 2004 12 28 WI 2,350 2,300 Christmas Bird Counts Barrow's Goldeneye 3,747 2005 12 28 WI 2,350 2,300 Christmas Bird Counts Barrow's Goldeneye 3,091 2006 12 28 WI 2,350 2,300 Christmas Bird Counts Barrow's Goldeneye 1,838 2009 12 28 WI 2,350 2,300 Christmas Bird Counts Barrow's Goldeneye 3,672 2012 1 27 WI 2,350 2,300 Pacific Wildlife Foundation (unpublished) Black Oystercatcher 78 2006 12 28 WI 100 100 Christmas Bird Counts Great Blue Heron 51 1997 3 19 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 36 2002 SU 1,200 1,200 45 SPES Heronry Monitoring Great Blue Heron 40 2002 6 23 SU 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 42 2003 SU 1,200 1,200 45 SPES Heronry Monitoring Great Blue Heron 140 2004 SU 1,200 1,200 45 SPES Heronry Monitoring Great Blue Heron 352 2005 SU 1,200 1,200 45 SPES Heronry Monitoring Great Blue Heron 356 2006 SU 1,200 1,200 45 SPES Heronry Monitoring Great Blue Heron 70 2006 3 15 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 40 2006 5 28 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 366 2007 SU 1,200 1,200 45 SPES Heronry Monitoring Great Blue Heron 71 2007 6 3 SU 1,200 1,200 45 Breeding Bird Surveys (50 stops, Canada) Great Blue Heron 302 2008 SU 1,200 1,200 45 SPES Heronry Monitoring Great Blue Heron 290 2009 SU 1,200 1,200 45 SPES Heronry Monitoring Great Blue Heron 50 2009 3 24 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 80 2009 4 11 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 248 2010 SU 1,200 1,200 45 SPES Heronry Monitoring Great Blue Heron 70 2010 3 3 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 40 2010 3 28 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 52 2010 6 5 SU 1,200 1,200 45 Breeding Bird Surveys (50 stops, Canada) Great Blue Heron 224 2011 SU 1,200 1,200 45 SPES Heronry Monitoring Great Blue Heron 40 2012 3 12 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 70 2013 3 17 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 60 2013 4 2 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 200 2013 5 11 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 60 2013 5 24 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 90 2013 6 7 SU 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 42 2013 6 16 SU 1,200 1,200 45 Breeding Bird Surveys (50 stops, Canada) Great Blue Heron 54 2014 3 21 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 50 2014 3 26 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 55 2014 4 11 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 75 2014 5 3 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 35 2014 5 31 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 70 2014 6 6 SU 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 80 2015 2 21 WI 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 85 2015 2 28 WI 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 50 2015 3 19 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 50 2015 3 22 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 75 2015 4 7 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 200 2015 5 9 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 61 2016 2 15 WI 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 53 2016 2 21 WI 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 52 2016 2 22 WI 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 56 2016 2 29 WI 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 100 2016 3 8 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 90 2016 3 10 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 80 2016 3 11 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 40 2016 3 16 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 40 2016 4 16 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 70 2017 3 27 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 100 2017 3 31 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 80 2017 4 3 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 60 2018 3 25 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 50 2018 3 27 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 35 2018 4 2 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 50 2018 4 9 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 74 2018 4 17 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 50 2018 7 2 SU 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 48 2018 7 24 SU 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 40 2019 3 24 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 180 2019 3 31 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 100 2019 6 25 SU 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 50 2019 7 3 SU 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 42 2020 2 27 WI 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 40 2020 2 28 WI 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 40 2020 3 8 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 45 2020 3 8 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 40 2020 3 19 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 74 2020 3 29 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 45 2020 4 6 SP 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 50 2020 6 22 SU 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 40 2020 6 29 SU 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Great Blue Heron 40 2020 7 2 SU 1,200 1,200 45 eBird Canada Heermann's Gull 75 2000 3 12 SP 5,300 5,300 British Columbia Coastal Waterbirds Survey Heermann's Gull 170 2008 1 13 WI 5,300 5,300 British Columbia Coastal Waterbirds Survey Iceland Gull (Thayer's) 80 2006 11 22 FA 100 100 eBird Canada Iceland Gull (Thayer's) 100 2006 11 22 FA 100 100 eBird Canada Iceland Gull (Thayer's) 300 2008 10 23 FA 100 100 eBird Canada Iceland Gull (Thayer's) 250 2008 10 25 FA 100 100 eBird Canada Iceland Gull (Thayer's) 500 2008 10 25 FA 100 100 eBird Canada Iceland Gull (Thayer's) 120 2012 4 14 SP 100 100 eBird Canada Marbled Murrelet 470 2015 11 28 FA 6,200 5,520 1 1 500 eBird Canada Sage Thrasher 1 2007 4 5 SP 79,000 79,000 1 eBird Canada Spotted Owl 1 2003 9 30 FA 150 110 1 eBird Canada Surf Scoter 6,150 1990 WI 7,000 7,000 Watts & Breault 1996 Surf Scoter 7,675 2000 11 2 FA 7,000 7,000 BCCWS Surf Scoter 6,084 2000 12 10 WI 7,000 7,000 British Columbia Coastal Waterbirds Survey Surf Scoter 5,389 2004 11 1 FA 7,000 7,000 BCCWS Surf Scoter 6,000 2005 11 2 FA 7,000 7,000 eBird Canada Surf Scoter 5,285 2006 11 1 FA 7,000 7,000 BCCWS Surf Scoter 7,000 2006 11 5 FA 7,000 7,000 eBird Canada Surf Scoter 10,011 2007 11 1 FA 7,000 7,000 BCCWS Surf Scoter 6,000 2008 5 1 SP 7,000 7,000 eBird Canada Surf Scoter 7,030 2009 1 2 WI 7,000 7,000 BCCWS Surf Scoter 6,000 2009 1 11 WI 7,000 7,000 British Columbia Coastal Waterbirds Survey Surf Scoter 6,000 2009 1 11 WI 7,000 7,000 eBird Canada Surf Scoter 7,000 2009 2 15 WI 7,000 7,000 British Columbia Coastal Waterbirds Survey Surf Scoter 7,000 2009 2 15 WI 7,000 7,000 eBird Canada Surf Scoter 12,216 2011 12 28 WI 7,000 7,000 Christmas Bird Counts Surf Scoter 9,720 2012 1 27 WI 7,000 7,000 Pacific Wildlife Foundation (unpublished) Surf Scoter 6,000 2013 11 22 FA 7,000 7,000 eBird Canada Surf Scoter 6,000 2014 11 1 FA 7,000 7,000 eBird Canada Surf Scoter 6,000 2014 11 11 FA 7,000 7,000 eBird Canada Waterbirds 17,412 1990 WI 20,000 Watts & Breault 1996 Western Grebe 15,000 1970 WI 1,300 1,200 Campbell et al. 1990 Western Grebe 951 1995 12 17 WI 1,300 1,200 eBird Canada Western Grebe 1,029 2002 1 1 WI 1,300 1,200 BCCWS Western Grebe 1,023 2002 1 13 WI 1,300 1,200 British Columbia Coastal Waterbirds Survey White-winged Scoter 5,000 2008 4 16 SP 23,500 5,000 eBird Canada Note: species shown in bold indicate that the maximum number exceeds at least one of the IBA thresholds (sub-regional, regional or global). The site may still not qualify for that level of IBA if the maximum number reflects an exceptional or historical occurrence. Conservation Issues
Threats in English Bay - Burrard Inlet IBA include: pollution risk from shipping; industry and urban areas; disturbance and development. Several oil spills have occurred in the IBA. The amount of oil shipped through the IBA by tankers departing from a terminal in Burnaby has increased several orders of magnitude from 8000 metric tonnes in 2000 to nearly 4 million metric tonnes in 2010. This increase in tanker traffic raises concern about the risk of another spill. The effect of pollutants from urban and industrial activities (fecal coliforms, toxic microorganisms and heavy metals) on water quality and food sources for waterfowl (such as fish and mussels) are also concerning. Research on Surf Scoters wintering in Vancouver Harbour has indicated some possible negative physiological effects from contaminants from anti-fouling paints used on large ships (Elliot et al. 2007). Efforts to phase out use of these paints has decreased concern somewhat. Loss or degradation of natural habitats to residential and industrial development could impact shoreline foraging species such as scoters and goldeneyes. Direct disturbance of birds on the water is an increasing concern as the amount of commercial and recreational boating has increased within the IBA.The Burrard Inlet Environmental Action Program is a group of local, provincial, and federal agencies tasked with ensuring development of the inlet is sensitive to its unique environmental resources. The Consolidated Environmental Management Plan for Burrard Inlet was updated in 2011. Port Metro Vancouver has authority for port activities and has built intertidal gabions to create foraging habitat for mussel and barnacle feeding ducks and gulls. Several organizations monitor water quality in the inlet, including the Tsleil Waututh First Nations, Metro Vancouver, the Ministry of Environment and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. Several other non-profit organizations are actively involved in ongoing bird conservation and monitoring activities, including the Pacific WildLife Foundation, Stanley Park Ecology Society and the Wild Bird Trust. Volunteers participating in the British Columbia Coastal Waterbird Survey, coordinated by Bird Studies Canada, have been collecting monthly counts of wintering waterbirds within the IBA since 2000.
The IBA Program is an international conservation initiative coordinated by BirdLife International. The Canadian co-partners for the IBA Program are Birds Canada and Nature Canada.
 
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