
Media Release
TOBERMORY, ONTARIO, August 11, 2022 – At the end of July, Parks Canada, in partnership with Environment and Climate Change Canada, deployed a new, state-of-the-art, research buoy in Fathom Five National Marine Park. Reaching down from the surface into the depths, the buoy is collecting a wide variety of data, which will be compiled to create a long-term picture about Fathom Five National Marine Park’s water quality. Over time, the data will contribute to a better understanding of changes in water conditions as well as the impacts of climate change and aquatic invasive species, and it will support more collaborative study of Lake Huron.
Parks Canada plans to make the data collected accessible to all park visitors so that Canadians, including youth and newcomers, can learn more about the Fathom Five environment.
Current conditions of Fathom Five waters, including water temperature, weather and sea conditions, will be shared straight from the buoy to the Parks Canada Visitor Centre. In providing a direct connection to the park’s underwater environment, the buoy will offer visitors an opportunity to understand more about the marine park’s important, and often hidden, ecology, and it will give them access to information about conditions before they head out on the water.
Parks Canada is committed to protecting special places in the Great Lakes by working collaboratively with partners on research and monitoring to improve our understanding of Great Lakes environments. Parks Canada works collaboratively with the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, whose traditional territory includes Bruce Peninsula National Park and Fathom Five National Marine Park. Bringing together the Saugeen Ojibway Nation’s knowledge and Western science through a two-eyed seeing approach is helping us better understand the complex ecosystems of Lake Huron.
This also contributes to decision-making and effective management in a changing climate. Canada surpassed its target to conserve 10 percent of marine and coastal waters by 2020, and by sharing the data from this new research buoy in the visitor centre, travellers to the park will have an opportunity to discover more about efforts Parks Canada is making to understand Fathom Five’s natural heritage and ensure its conservation over the long term.