Lake Huron Coastal Centre's Coast Watchers present 2025 report

Last year marked the 20th year of the Coast Watchers Community Science monitoring program run by the Lake Huron Coastal Centre (LHCC). 

 

Coast Watchers serve as the “eyes and ears” of Lake Huron’s coastline. Volunteers systematically and consistently collect data along the shoreline making it possible to track long-term trends in shoreline conditions and contribute to both short-term sustainability efforts and long-term resiliency goals of the LHCC. Given Lake Huron’s vast 6,170 km shoreline - the longest of any Great Lake - monitoring it in detail is a challenge for any single agency. This is where community scientists play a critical role in tracking and documenting changes along the coast. 

 

Once again, Coast Watchers collected data from May to October of 2025 on atmospheric conditions, wildlife, algae washups, plastic pollution, human activities, and storm damage. Over 800 reports were made through volunteers monitoring the Canadian shoreline, all the way from Sarnia, to the Bruce Peninsula. This data informs conservation programs run by the LHCC, and will be shared with partners, including researchers, government bodies, private companies, and other non-profit organizations, to dive deeper on issues facing Lake Huron.

 

Here’s what they learned

 

• It’s been a hot year! In the 2025 Coast Watcher Annual Report, LHCC staff compared Coast Watchers temperature data to Lake Huron Climate Normals, generated by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and United States National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

 

Climate Normals are developed through averaging long-term data (more than 15 years) to describe the average conditions of climate in a specific location. The LHCC found that average air and water temperatures collected by Coast Watchers were warmer than the historical average. Due to the known effects of climate change, it is expected that there will continue to be summers with higher temperatures like what was observed in 2025. 

 

• Lots of critters were spotted on the beach! As wildlife is an integral part of the Lake Huron ecosystem, Coast Watchers reported on wildlife observed on the beach, both living and deceased. These reports help to record the presence of at-risk species or the occurrence of wildlife die-off events.

 

This year, the most common animal observed by volunteers was a gull, followed by Canadian geese. Also observed were swans, buffleheads, gizzard shad fish, mergansers, turkey vultures, monarch butterflies, cormorants, egrets, minnows, and potentially a piping plover (an endangered species). 

 

Coast Watchers reported 51 deceased or decomposing fish on the shoreline this year, which is over double what was reported by Coast Watchers last year. The majority of these reports were made from May to July, which corresponds to a gizzard shad fish die-off recognized in the news, suggested by fisheries scientists to be due to an outbreak of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS). 

 

• There was no shortage of beachgoers! Coast Watchers monitor the shoreline for human activity, tracking the number of people, cars, and pets on the beach or in the lake through the season. The busiest beach this year was Saugeen Beach, and the busiest time was July. Sixty-six per cent of vehicles observed on the beach were at Oliphant, which has a unique, gently sloping beach, in which large areas of the lakebed are exposed during low water levels. Driving along the beach to access the Fishing Islands or waterfront is common, although it can damage native wildlife habitats and increase vulnerability to invasive species such as the Common Reed (Phragmites australis).

 

• Almost all of the shoreline is being monitored! Most of the shoreline was monitored in 2025, but there’s a large gap in volunteers reporting from Goderich to Camlachie. The Lake Huron Coastal Centre is actively looking for new volunteers for the Coast Watchers program, especially if you live in Bayfield, Grand Bend, Port Franks, or Kettle and Stony Point First Nation, or frequent these areas of the shoreline. 

 

To become a Coast Watcher, learn more about the program, or read the full report, visit www.lakehuron/coastwatchers.