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The canary in the coalmine: mapping eelgrass as an indicator of marinehealthAndrea Locke 1 Monique Niles 1 , Michael Broadbent 2 , Don Ventura 3 & Todd Mitchell 31 Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Moncton, NB, E1C 9B6, CanadaLockeA@dfo-mpo.gc.ca; NilesM@dfo-mpo.gc.ca2 ESRI (formerly Fugro Pelagos, Inc.), 380 New York St, Redlands, CA, 92373, USAmbroadbent@esri.com3 Fugro Pelagos, Inc., 4820 McGrath Street Suite 100, Ventura, CA, 93003, USAdventura@fugro.com; tmitchell@fugro.comAbstractIn the mid-1980s many species of amphibians were suffering significant population declines. While the causesfor the declines were not well understood, it was believed that because amphibian skin is highly permeable andsusceptible to the absorption of toxins, the declines were primarily due to changes in aquatic habitat chemistry.Amphibians became recognized as aquatic biohealth indicators and populations were tracked as a way of recognizingthreats to biodiversity from pollution, habitat loss and climate change. Tracking these populations became away of isolating issues, but is not efficient for measuring change on a macro level.Airborne LiDAR bathymetry has allowed for habitat mapping of large areas quickly and economically. Eelgrass(Zostera marina) was identified as an alternative biohealth indicator that could be evaluated on a macro scale for themarine environment. Eelgrass provides fish habitat to numerous commercial fish species and is considered an EcologicallySignificant Species in Atlantic Canada.209