A Rocha volunteers and staff have joined in the shorekeeping efforts on Semiahmoo Bay in Surrey, BC since 2004. For nine years we have monitored the same 50-metre section of intertidal zone and backshore just east of the Little Campbell Estuary on Semiahmoo Bay. The study contributes data to the Shorekeepers Program run by Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada, a citizen science endeavour which aims to detect gradual changes in habitats and local biodiversity over time and to attribute to these changes to specific causes, whether of natural or of human origin. A Rocha has made a long-term commitment to shorekeeping at this site, which was chosen for its proximity to the estuary of the Little Campbell River, which is the principal focus of conservation efforts for the team at the A Rocha Brooksdale Environmental Centre.

Again this year, A Rocha staff and interns attended Shorekeeper Training sessions offered through DFO Canada and Friends of Semiahmoo Bay Society prior to undertaking the study. Equipped with GPS equipment, buckets for sample collection, and ropes for quadrant mapping, the A Rocha team fanned out on the lowest tide of the year to record the myriad of creatures and plants found in our particular intertidal zone. Shoreline monitoring at this site builds our connections to the monitoring research work being undertaken by DFO Canada, and helps A Rocha evaluate the health of the Little Campbell River and the effects of urban and agricultural developments upstream.