Baynes Sound (11073)
Canada, North America
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: B1, D1a
Year of last assessment: 2008
National site name: Baynes Sound
Central coordinates: Latitude: 49.4725, Longitude: -124.7432
System: marine, terrestrial
Area of KBA (km2): 100.86919
Protected area coverage (%): 1.77
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: Baynes Sound is situated between the east coast of Vancouver Island and Denman Island in the Strait of Georgia in southwestern British Columbia. This site extends from the Courtenay River estuary at the head of Comox Harbour, to Deep Bay and Mapleguard Point, approximately 35 kilometres to the southeast. Chrome Island is situated off the southern point of Denman Island, and is also included in the IBA. Baynes Sound is a shallow coastal channel fringed by protected bays, open foreshore, tidal estuaries, inshore marshes and adjacent forests. Comox Harbour, which bounds Baynes Sound on the northwest, is a large low gradient deltaic deposit. Together these protected waters and their many freshwater streams function as a single estuary. The shoreline, much of which is in a relatively natural condition, ranges from wide expanses of mud and sand flats to rocky shorelines overlooking deep water. The key habitats are a series of low gradient deltas, sand and gravel beaches, tidal flats, estuaries and foreshore. The Sound has several small bays that support a shellfish industry, that comprise the most important area in the province for oyster mariculture. The surrounding land is a mixture of undeveloped second growth forest, areas of commercial pasture and cropland, small farms, urban and suburban development and light industry.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance that meets the thresholds for at least one criterion described in the Global Standard for the Identification of KBAs.
Additional biodiversity: The Baynes Sound area is important for winter populations of waterfowl and shorebirds, and for summer-moulting seaducks. The presence of spawning herring during early spring is an important food source for many bird species occurring in the area. Maximum single day counts at this site during surveys in 1980 1981 recorded significant numbers of the following species (unless noted otherwise the percentage of the estimated global population is in parentheses): Pacific Loons (2% of a conservative North American estimate), Western Grebe (at most 8%), Great Blue Heron (ssp. fannini 2%), Trumpeter Swan (1% of the Pacific population), Brant (4% of the western ssp. nigricans), Black Turnstone (4%), Mew Gull (2.5% of North American population), Thayer's Gull (2%), Glaucous-winged Gull (>1%). Additionally, over 2% of the estimated national population of Pelagic Cormorants were recorded at this site. Other birds recorded at this site include 138 Common Murres, 426 Black-bellied Plovers, 350 Bald Eagles, as well as concentrations of more than 50 Marbled Murrelets (nationally threatened). Ten gull and tern species, 19 species of shorebirds, 16 species of diving ducks (such as White-winged, Surf and Black scoters), nine species of dabbling ducks, and 13 species of raptors have been recorded in the Baynes Sound area. Concentrations of diving ducks have reached 12,185.
Delineation rationale: 2011-06-06 (BL Secretariat): site area updated from 8000 ha to 10000 ha, following GIS analysis of site polygon by Bird Studies Canada (J. Moore & S. Marquez in litt. 2009).
Habitats
Land use: agriculture | fisheries/aquaculture | rangeland/pastureland | tourism/recreation | urban/industrial/transport
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Marine Intertidal | 50 | |
| Marine Neritic | 50 |