Environmentalists and climatologists have been sounding the alarm for years, but another group of scientific professionals is seeing first-hand the effects of a rapidly changing climate.
Archaeologists at Memorial University have been mapping changes to the coastline of an island of historic significance off Ferryland.
Their findings are alarming.
Barry Gaulton and Calum Brydon say the coastline of Bois Island has changed dramatically since 1951, with more rapid coastal erosion having taken place in the last 20 years.
A map showing how much the coast line of Bois Island has changed since 1951 (PAO)
On the north, south, and west coasts of the island they found multiple sites where the coastline had eroded by more than 10 metres since 1951 – however, the eastern coast is where the greatest concern lies, with the entire area heavily affected by erosion.
Their findings show that that the worst affected areas saw up to 20 metres of coastline lost.
Comparing those changes over time showed that the erosion rate from 2008 to 2025 was triple that of 1951 to 2008.
Orthophoto mosaic of Bois Island and a cannon from the northeast battery looking east (PAO)
The researchers say that coastal erosion will only be exacerbated in future, accelerating the loss of important historic artifacts. Two cannon have already been lost from their original location and several more are under threat of being displaced. Gaulton and Brydon suggest that a thorough survey be conducted along the perimeter of the island to record concentrations of metal objects, followed by test pitting and targeted excavation.
That, they say, would provide baseline information on the nature of at-risk cultural deposits, and identify areas of urgency, while allowing for future planning.
