
CABIN (Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network)
Key Takeaways:
- Living Lakes Canada was one of the first non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to be certified by the Canadian federal government to deliver field training for CABIN.
- The results of data collected is uploaded to the national CABIN database where certified CABIN users can run a statistical analysis tool that produces a stream health assessment.
- Online Modules are part of the CABIN training and are housed and managed by the Canadian Rivers Institute. There are no other prerequisites to join a CABIN training other than completing module 1 and 2 before the field certification.
CABIN is a nationally standardized biomonitoring protocol, developed by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), and involves collecting benthic macroinvertebrate samples alongside habitat and water quality data to determine stream health. Benthic macroinvertebrates, the community of organisms that live in the substrates along the bottom of a river or stream, are excellent indicators of aquatic health due to their high sensitivity to pollutants and climate change-related impacts.
PROGRAM SUMMARY
Living Lakes Canada was one of the first non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to be certified by the Canadian federal government to deliver field training for CABIN, an efficient, an accurate and widely accepted way to assess aquatic ecosystem health that is mainly used for small to medium sized creeks.
For the last five years, Living Lakes Canada has been leading CABIN training sessions for Indigenous and non-Indigenous community-based water monitoring groups throughout the Columbia Basin as well as across British Columbia and Canada.
The benthics are collected by participants using the standardized CABIN kick-netting protocol, demonstrated in the video clip below. Once collected, the benthics are sent to qualified taxonomists who then identify which are present based on physical traits.
The results of that identification and the other data collected is uploaded to the national CABIN database where certified CABIN users can run a powerful yet simple-to-use statistical analysis tool that produces a stream health assessment. This final product — the stream health assessment report — is widely acknowledged and accepted as a valuable indicator of stream health at the time of collection.
PROGRAM GOAL
Repeating these efforts over time allows users to establish baseline information and observe changes, and provides widely accepted scientific evidence to First Nations community-based water monitors and others to support environmental degradation concerns and further validate more defined sampling efforts.
TRAINING
Online Modules are part of the CABiN training and are housed and managed by the Canadian Rivers Institute. There are no other prerequisites to join a CABiN training other than completing module 1 and 2 before the field certification. Please see a detailed description of each modules content, levels of certification (Field Technician or Program Manager) at the Canadian Rivers Institute website.
CONTACT
To inquire about holding or participating in a Living Lakes Canada-led CABIN training, contact Program Manager Raegan Mallinson at raegan@livinglakescanada.ca.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Status - Active
Categories
Water Bodies |
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Rivers, Creeks and Streams |
Regions |
National |
Types of Work |
AssessmentCABINCitizen ScienceCommunity Based MonitoringMonitoring |
News and Updates
- Different ways the public participate in scientific research: Monitoring the health of streams with community-collected bugs – Canadian Science Publishing, Oct 12 2022
- A New Kind of Liquid Biopsy – Illumina News Center, Aug 24 2022
- “It’s at the very core of everything”: The significance of Canada’s wild rivers – Canadian Geographic, June 2019
- Wading into water concerns in the Bow Basin – High Country News, Dec 8 2022
- Lower Fraser First Nations embrace biomonitoring to protect fish habitat – Living Lakes Canada, Nov 23 2022
- iTrackDNA: Our Biosphere Revealed – iTrackDNA, Nov 2 2022
- High elevation creek biomonitoring for climate impacts – Living Lakes Canada, Oct 7 2022
- Diving into STREAM/CABIN training in Fredericton, New Brunswick – Living Lakes Canada, June 23 2022
- STREAM Data Workshop recording and slideshows available – Living Lakes Canada, June 22 2022
- CABIN training session with Friends of Kootenay Lake in Nelson, BC – Living Lakes Canada, Aug 13 2020
- For a complete list of news features, visit our In The News page!