Ocean ambassadors soaking up Indigenous conservation knowledge in Nova Scotia

Ocean ambassadors from across Canada are getting hands-on experience this week with Indigenous conservation practices in Nova Scotia.

Eighteen participants between the ages of 18 and 30 are taking part in activities such as electrofishing — a scientific surveying method that uses an electrical current to catch fish. They're also learning how to help protect the health of oceans, rivers and streams.

"It's really a chance for them to look at their own communities and think what the needs and issues are, and maybe what we can help solve as it directly relates to ocean health," said Patrick Lamontagne, senior manager of the Ocean Bridge program.

The federally funded program is an initiative of Ocean Wise, a global conservation organization focusing on education, research and direct-action conservation. The 10-day remote learning program is part of a free six-month program.

The group that's gathered in Nova Scotia is taking part in a series of field trips where they are teaming up with Indigenous knowledge keepers and conservation experts. Earlier this week, they gathered at Lebreau Creek, just a few kilometres outside of Windsor.

The creek is a tributary of the Avon River.

"What we are doing is giving them a rundown of what we do in the field on a day-to-day basis," said Lachlin Riehl, an alumnus of the program who is now a river monitoring co-ordinator for the Mi'kmaw Conservation Group. "It will give them some hands-on experience into what we do and why."

The group also learned how to survey a small waterway.

Eighteen-year-old Keely Brown, who is the youngest person in the program, said there was plenty to learn about fish protection and their habitats.

"The surveying was very interesting because they took into account things like flooding and other things you don't kind of see every day," said Brown, who lives in Conception Bay South, N.L.

The first field trip for the group was a shoreline cleanup and piping plover survey at Sandy Bay Shore near Thomas Raddall Provincial Park in Queens County. There will also be a so-called BioBlitz — biological surveying — at the Deanery Project, a non-profit organization that offers programming related to energy, forests and rural living at a large oceanfront property on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore.

The trip will conclude with a three-day kayaking trip to the 100 Wild Islands, also along the Eastern Shore.

"There's a lot of peer-to-peer learning as we bring them all together for these 10 days," said Kaitlyn Harris, manager of the Ocean Bridge program in Atlantic Canada.

"We try to create opportunities for them to learn from each other while we work with local organizations at the same time to give them some field skills as we expose them to things that are happening here."