EFFECTS OF WEATHER Oi\' MARI^'E ORGANISMS 



29 



II. 



Some Apparent Effects of Severe Weather on 

 Marine Organisms in the vicinity of Departure 



Bay, B. C. 



the 



BY 



C. McLean Fraskr. 



From a fisheries standpoint, tlie first effect of the severe winter and spring of 

 1915-lG, almost unparalleled in British Columbia records, was the loss of so many- 

 human lives and the serious destruction of boats, gear, etc., in the storms of the ISforth 

 Pacific, which were so bad that those who did manage to make port, did so after so 

 much stress and strain, that, even to men. inured to the hardshipsi of the wintry sea, 

 it was a new and most unwelcome experience. In such a winter a close season for 

 halibut wonld be worthy of consideration from a humanitarian point of view. 



Another effect, also of much importance from a commercial standpoint, was the 

 loss of oysters both on dyked and undyked lands, due to the low temperature reached 

 when they were uncovered or covered with ice at low tide. The Puget Sound region, 

 I understand, suffered extensively in this regard and" other areas to a less extent. 



Besides these special cases, it is possible that there was a wide-spread effect on 

 the whole life of the sea, and particularly in such an area as the strait of Georgia, 

 which is nearly landlocked and hence more subject to changes than the waters of the 

 open ocean. This effect was produced by the severe weather in three ways. In the 

 first place, en account of the continued low temperature, the surface waters became 

 cold'er than usual and this had an effect on the organisms that come near the surface. 

 In the second place, some of the low temperatures were coincident with low tides 

 and shore forms suffered thereby. In the third place, as the streams were also 

 affected by the cold weather, anadromous forms may have been influenced. 



To consider these in the order mentioned, the first is the effect of lowering the 

 surface temperature of the water in the sea. The daily range of air temperature has 

 little noticeable effect on the temperature of the sea water and hence the maximum 

 and minimum daily temperatures need not be considered. The averaore temperature 

 over a longer period of time has a more direct bearing, hence it is well here to com- 

 pare the average temperatures by the month in the fall, winter and spring of 1915-16, 

 with those of the preceding season. The following table shows a comparison from 

 October until jMay, both inclusive. 



AIR TEMPERATURE. 



