Last week I joined some folks with Raincoast Education Society in Tofino as they conducted a beach seine in the eelgrass beds on the shore right in the middle of town. It was a great opportunity to see fish that live in the extensive eelgrass beds around Tofino. The beach seine was a joint effort between Raincoast and Parks Canada and staff from both organizations were on hand to help identify fish and make connections between the fish and the eelgrass ecosystem.

It was pretty challenging to take photographs of the fish but I did manage to get some images of Shiner Perch and Tube-Snouts. In addition to these fish we also caught Penpoint Gunnels, Crescent Gunnels,  a large Whitespotted Greenling, a Rosylip Sculpin, Pacific Staghorn Sculpin, an English Sole, Threespine Stickleback and many more. I was amazed at the diversity of fish and crabs that we caught not more than 3 metres from the shore.

The Raincoast Education Society has another beach seine scheduled on Thursday, August 26 between 9:00 am to 10:30 am at Tofino Sea Kayaking  (320 Main Street) in Tofino, British Columbia. If you’re in town make sure to drop in and check out the seine – it’s “in-seine” fun and educational to boot!

Raincoast Education Society offers a range of public walks in the forests, beaches, intertidal zones and mudflats around Tofino and Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island.  FMI contact Raincoast at 250-725-2560. Read more about the beach seine in the article The Unseen Between the Seine on the Westerly News web site.