Mapping Local Knowledge on Recreational Boating in the Southern Strait of Georgia

Effective coastal and marine management requires an understanding of the overall use of an area by stakeholders. The goal of this study is to spatially characterize the use of British Columbia’s southern Strait of Georgia by recreational boaters. The study involved the use of a face to face questionnaire, in which boaters were asked to plot on a map the route of their current boating trip. 543 boating routes were collected, and this information was subsequently digitized and overlaid to create a boating density map of the region. The ongoing GIS visualization and analysis conducted through this study will contribute to an increased understanding of the use of the area by boaters and highlight areas of potential environmental and safety concern based on boat concentrations and intensity of use. Background and Relevance The southern Strait of Georgia is one of the busiest waterways in Canada, and is characterized by multiple uses and a sensitive marine environment. One of the dominant activities in the region is recreational boating. While boating can have a variety of positive social and economic impacts, research has also documented negative environmental effects, including impacts associated with sewage discharge (GuillonCottard et al., 1998; Shafer & Yoon, 1998), impacts of anchoring on benthic communities (Creed & Filho, 1999; Leatherbarrow, 2005), and impacts of boating on marine fauna (Burger, 1998; Janik & Thompson, 1996; Wall et al., 2005). However, despite these potential impacts and the popularity of the area for boating, there currently exists a lack of information on the overall spatial distribution and intensity of use of boating in the region. Given the potential impacts outlined above, such information is essential to achieving sustainable management of the marine environment. A number of methods have been employed in an attempt to spatially characterize recreational boating in other areas of the world, including direct observation (Jaackson, 1998; Widmer & Underwood, 2004), aerial photographs (Reed-Andersen et al., 2000; Sidman & Flamm, 2001), and mail-in questionnaires (Heatwole & West, 1982; Sidman & Fik, 2005). This study explored the use of face to face questionnaires as a method of capturing boater knowledge of their own vessel movements in the southern Strait of Georgia. Mapping and visualization of boating in the region has a number of direct practical applications, including the identification of areas of environmental concern due to high levels of boating, and the identification of potential risks and conflicts between boating and other marine activities (Pelot & Wu, 2007).