Monthly Archives: September 2002

Salmon predation

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TEMPERATURE: Max. 18.3 ºC »» Min. 9.9 ºC »» Reset 15.1 ºC
MARINE LIFE: The fishing is good these past few days at least for the birds and sea lions, have seen some fair size salmon taken just off the end of the dock -a couple looked to be about 3kgs. The birds, especially the gulls rush to pick up any bits of fish that fly about as the sea lions toss and slap their catch at the water surface. There are also a lot of smaller fish which we see jumping, some clearing the surface by a foot or more.

HUMAN INTERACTION: Second Nature out with Garry and students(divers) for live web cast, also Hyaku with Angus and two guests from the Jason Project.The weather could not have been better, over a week now of clear skies and calm seas! There were 5 pleasure craft and 11 Ecotour boats through the reserve, unfortunately at approx. 15:00 one boat from Sea Fun Safaris approached the south shore of North Rks. too close and about half of the 50 or so cormorants took flight.Several sea lions sat up but fortunately did not rush into the water. The sea lions near the dock are quite used to us moving about as long as we move slowly, and don’t make a lot of noise or try to get too close.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:05 PM

Fall weather

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TEMPERATURE: Max. 17.0 ºC »» Min. 9.1 ºC »» Reset 15.7 ºC
MARINE LIFE: The sealions seem to enjoy the near fall sunshine as much as we do, many of them with their bellies up, soaking in the warmth.The nesting gulls are all but gone, the odd juvenile returns to search the old nest area for a free meal maybe but finding only a few feathers to peck at soon flies back out to sea.We are not too sad that the ‘bird’ season is pretty much over- spent the day scrubbing and washing down the porches – will take a few roaring northeasters to really clean things up! The sunsets are fantastic (check out camera # 1in the evening) and with the clear skies, the moon light is so bright, have to close the blind to sleep!
HUMAN INTERACTION:There were 7 pleasure craft, 6 kayakers( too close to North Rks.- scared about 20 sealions into the water),13 Ecotour boats,2 dive charter boats and 1 Fish charter boat-SeaStar- which we contacted via VHF to advise that they were approaching too close and disturbing wildlife ( sealions into the water and cormorants took flight)
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:03 PM

Tour boats stiill out to the reserve

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 15.0 ºC »» Min. 8.2 ºC »» Reset 13.7 ºC
MARINE LIFE: 1 pair of Black Oyster Catchers spent several hours in the east bay area mostly preening and sleeping, heard no vocalizing at all.The geese flew in just after 10 am but stayed only about an hour before heading off towards Pedder Bay.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 26 Ecotour boats, 3 dive boats, 1 sail boat, 9 pleasure craft and the DFO 3M boat in the reserve.The Station boat made a trip to Pedder Bay and back.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:03 PM

Turnstones and Orca

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TEMPERATURE: Max. 17.0 ºC »» Min. 9.9 ºC »» Reset 15.9 ºC
MARINE LIFE: several groups of 20 or so Cormorants are spending part of the day on North Rks. and the rocks on the southeast of Gr. Race. There are now about 60 Black Turnstones busy along the shoreline, you can often see them on camera # 3 hopping among the sealions foraging for sand fleas or beach hoppers.Most of the time though they are farther down on the beach where the food supply includes small crabs which they find by ‘turning over pebbles and small stones’ thus the name Turnstone.There was one identified transient Orca, a large bull known as Y1 through the reserve about 10 am. There were 4 or 5 other Orca with him including a calf. These transeints came in from the west between North Rks. and Gr. Race. They spent a while foraging about not far off the dock then circled Gr. Race rather slowly before moving off to the northwest. At about 11:15 heard a report from one of the Ecotour boats that there was a group of residents in the entrance of Pedder Bay, did see some tail slapping and breaching but too far away to identify any individuals.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Second Nature in with supplies this morning. While the Orca were in the reserve 4 boats followed them which is contrary to the guidelines. 3 of the boats were fishing charters ,Beasley, Adams and Island Outfitters. The 4th was an unidentified 5 or 6 metre open Lifetimer.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:12 PM

Tidal fishing rules

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Good Evening

TEMPERATURE: Max.14.8 ºC »» Min. 8.7 ºC »» Reset 12.1 ºC »» Rain 0.4 mm

HUMAN INTERACTION: 1 Ecotour boat, 3 pleasure craft and Hyaku ( Garry with student and guest ) in the reserve today. At 11:40 noticed a rental boat with 2 persons, in the kelp bed at the east tip of North Rocks jigging, called the Marina and they sent out a staff member to advise of the No Take rules-although the Gov. issued rules on tidal fishing in the MPA are readily available some people are still choosing to ignore them.

posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:19 PM

Schools Project Lab with Ryan

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On one of the many schools projects field trips that took place in the early 2000s , Ryan Murphy shows students of one of the local schools some of the Race Rocks biodiversity in the lab.

Branded sealion #169

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TEMPERATURE: Max. 15.3 ºC »» Min. 10.1 ºC »» Reset 11.8 ºC

MARINE LIFE: The small east bay is the favoured haul out spot these past few days for about 90 Harbour seals with the rest scattered about the other rocks. The Sea Lions are spread out also, a few preferring spots quite far inland.One California sealion by the dock has a semi-circle wound on the tip of his left front flipper and another is branded on his back #169. HUMAN INTERACTION: Even with the fallish weather there were 24 Ecotour boats, 4 pleasure craft and 3 Charter Dive boats in the reserve today. posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:09 PM

Whales and sealions

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TEMPERATURE: Max. 14.1 ºC »» Min. 9.6 ºC »» Reset 14.0 ºC
MARINE LIFE: The chatter on the marine radio reported sightings of some Minke whales and also a Humpback but not unfortunately close to us. We did see several Orca a mile or so beyond the MPA boundries.This morning we counted 172 California, 9 Northern Sea lions hauled out on West, Middle and North Rocks. The group hauled out at the dock and along the north shoreline of Gr. Race still numbers 13-15 California and 2 Northern.Most of the day they spend sleeping but through the night get quite vocal. Most of the young gulls have stopped returning to the nest areas and are usually chased off by the adults.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 37 Ecotour boats, 2 Charter dive boats and 7 pleasure craft through the reserve today.Station boat to Pedder Bay and back this morning.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:27 PM

Analipus japonicus: The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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analipus japonicus

Ryan Murphy took these pictures of Analipus japonicus in June of 2002 at Race Rocks.

ajapon1

Analipus japonicus in hand with Fucus sp. above left

General Characteristics
Analipus japonicus is found in the upper intertidal area frequently on rocks exposed to moderately heavy surf. This brown alga possesses a thallus of light brown color that supports branches up to 35 cm tall. Until recently, the species has been considered to be rare as it was represented by only two or three patches at Race Rocks. It is now becoming more abundant, on both the western shelf near peg 6 and the north-eastern corner near peg 15.

Reproduction Patterns
Development of the brown alga Analipus japonicus exhibits a pronounced seasonal pattern in many regions of the world. In winter and spring, this alga is found only as prostrate crusts; erect axes develop during the summer and fall. Reproduction is chiefly asexual and takes place from July to November. Unilocular sporangiate plants occur very rarely only in June and July. Plants bearing plurilocular sporangia are abundant from July to November.

Pharmaceutical Uses
In a study by various professors at the Sung Kyun Kwan University, there is a report of the results of a screening of 89 seaweeds collected from British Columbia, Canada, and Korea for antiviral activity. Various concentrations of methanol extracts of dried algae were tested against 100 plaque-forming units of herpes simplex virus type 1 and Sindbis virus in Vero cell monolayers. With reference to Analipus japonicus, it was the most potent anti-herpes species, according to the experimental results.

References:
http://www.usfca.edu/fac-staff/chienp/division%20phaeophyta.html

Biologiya Morya, Vladivostok, 2000, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 426-429

http://www.skku.ac.kr/~ecology/professor/abstract/biological.html accessed 2002.
Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Protoctista
Division: Phaeophyta (Brown algae)
Class: Phaeophyceae
Order: Chordariales
Family: Chordariaceae
Genus: Analipus
Species: japonicus
Common Name: thickly leaved rockweed
Other Phaeophytes or Brown Algae at Race Rocks

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. Paolo Danese 2002 (PC yr 28) 12/9/2002