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Earth Observation essential for geohazard mitigation
More than 250 scientists from around the world gathered for a five-day workshop at ESA's Earth Observation Centre in Frascati.
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Îles de la Madeleine at a Glance
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Nestled between the Maritimes and the Gaspé Peninsula in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, les Îles de la Madeleine is a small group of islands about 180 square kilometres in total. The islands are home to over 100 species of birds, including the endangered Piping Plover and the Roseate Tern, which depend on the Islands' lagoons for their survival. Some of the Islands' marine species, such as eel, smelt and herring also depend on good fish habitat for feeding. With a population of 13,500 and an annual tourist population of 40,000, however, the Islands' lagoons and inlets, among others, are suffering from erosion and over-sedimentation that is affecting the local wildlife and the fishing. "Most of the species - clams, oysters, mussels, scallops - and consequently the fishing is being affected by over-sedimentation," says Selma Pereira, Coordinator of the Comité ZIP des Îles-de-la-Madeleine. |
"To give an example of how dynamic the environment can be," says Ms. Pereira, "one day we'll go to map a stream or creek. The next day there may be a sandstorm and in the morning the stream is not there...it just doesn't exist." In this continually changing environment, planning for effective resource and tourist management can be difficult.
To meet the challenges, the Comité ZIP teamed up with GeoConnections' Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI). Using data sets and geomatic equipment supplied by SCI, the Comité ZIP has now mapped two of its inland water bodies, Baie du Bassin and Bassin aux Huîtres, in an effort to plan for the future of the areas. Augmenting SCI's contribution, there has been tremendous cooperation among other groups including the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the Regional Municipality of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, and the local residents.
Five lagoons will eventually be mapped, and an integrated management committee oversees each water body. "There is a lot of community involvement and it's important to have consistent information because they don't all have the same demands or priorities," says Mr. Tremblay. The maps also give each committee a vision of the entire area.
"Usually committee members only see the part of the island that they're dealing with," says Ms. Pereira, "so with the maps they can provide more input and get information about the whole lagoon. Some of the committee members have said that they were just waiting for these kinds of planning tools for good integrated management."
DFO trained three members of the Comité ZIP and two employees of the Regional Municipality of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine in geomatics, but plans could not have proceeded without SCI's contribution. "You can get pieces of data from other places, but SCI was the only one that provided the hardware and software," explains Ms. Pereira. The Comité ZIP is also the only local agency that has this capability. "There is no one on the Island that has this kind of geomatic equipment, so we are helping the Regional Municipality in the planning of their resource management."
Fishing and tourism may have taken their toll on the Madeleine Islands, but the Comité ZIP is confident that, with the tools and resources they now have, they can assist the integrated management committees in making sound planning decisions that will help them take control of the Island's future. As just one example, the Comité ZIP has proposed rationalizing and limit the access along the water bodies to minimize the damage. "It's that kind of direct intervention that you can plan with geomatics," says Mr. Tremblay.