Monthly Archives: November 2013

river otter

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Cloudy. Strong West wind.
2 Eco-tour boats.

I saw a river otter scurry down the rock bluff by the boat ramp. Earlier in the season there was one living under the pile of wood next to the tank shed, maybe it moved a little down the path and now lives under the crane platform. This could also be a critter that is leaving broken and emptied urchin shells on the end of the jetty.

Erik brought out David Hawley + adivsees in the late afternoon to spend the night.
The replacement solar panel arrived. And Erik took away fuel spill rags and the jugs to fill with deionized water for battery top up.

one day of summer

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Clear skies. Light wind. Glassy seas. 9’C

DND blast: 1055, 1 medium blast

DFO has decided to extend our contract for the recreation fishing count. It starts again on December 1st, and continues until March.

The Canada Geese returned today, hopefully they don’t stay long, and I would prefer it if they stayed off my paths. I was told that the Sea lions leave this time of year, but there’s no sign of it happening yet, with over 1000 Sea lions still in the reserve. Maybe it’s because we have had such a mild Winter, with very few storms. They are mostly out on the Cobble beach on the South side of Greater Race and South Rocks. There are only a few by the jetty. The male elephant seal is still lounging on Middle Rock in easy view of Camera 5 on the West Bluff.

Animal Census
Stellar Sea lion: 479
California Sea lion: 555
Harbour seal: 47
Elephant seal: 1
Gulls: 159
Cormorants: 99
Oster Catcher: 4
Black Turnstone: 6
Eagle: 1
Raven: 1

-Started ‘Spring cleaning’ Keeper’s house for the shift change
-Prepped Science House for tomorrow’s group of students

tafoni

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Clear sky. Light winds.
My shift of nearly-perfect-weather continues.

I was almost finished my animal census (I just needed a couple picture of areas with lot’s of animals) when a Coast Guard helicopter did two circles of the tower. A lot of Gulls took flight the Sea lions on South Rocks took to the water. I guess I’ll try again tomorrow.

The Gulls have been capitalizing on the low tides during daylight hours and have been foraging on green urchins. They leave the broken urchins on walkways, the jetty, and rock outcroppings. This time of year the urchins are full of roe (gonads) which, by Sea gull standards, is high is calories and nutrients.

Tafoni: The blocks of sandstone out a Race Rocks are leftover from building the tower stairs. There are a hand-full of rectangular blocks on the beach by the jetty. These blocks have the signature patterns of pits and holes that are cause by chemical erosion. Because the stone is permeable, saltwater infiltrates throughout the block. As the sun and wind dries the outer surfaces, the water moves outward, dissolving the clay that binds the sand particles together resulting in the surprisingly organized patterns of holes. Another driver is the physical weathering that occurs as salt dries and puts pressure on the rock particles forcing areas to exfoliate and flake. Although the science of tafoni isn’t fully understood, it is thought that there are also biological drivers, particularly in the intertidal region (Tafoni also occurs in deserts, no urchins there). Univavles and Urchins can chemically dissolve and abrade the the surface of the stone and hasten the dissolution of the pits.

-Worked on DFO boat count report
-grease gun scavenger hunt
-washed solar panels
-ran firepump and wiped it down with fluid film
 

sail past

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Cloudy. Moderate Ne/E winds all day.

Off station from 1030 to 1130 to visit friends who were sailing past on their way to Sooke.
On my way back I went past Middle Rock with the HUGE male elephant seal (I’ve never seen a full sized one). Pretty impressive just how big those creatures are. I wish he’d come ashore to Greater Race Rock so I could get a better look at him. There was an adult bald eagle on the Turbine Rock on my way in, and two Harlequins on the jetty steps.

 

-Wrote DFO recreational fishing count report

calm

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Clear skies. Light winds.
A beautiful calm and crisp day. I’m glad the weather is holding out for the end of my shift.

-scrubbed outside tower stairs
-diesel to science house
-cleaned Science house basement
-Started fishing count analysis

male elephant seal

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Clear skies. Moderate NE winds.

I’ve finally seen a large male elephant seal. He is camped out on the top of Middle Rock. You can see him using Camera 5.
There have been juvenile eagles in the morning for the past week, and an adult has taken up on the top of one of the South Rocks for the past few days .

This weekend in the reserve there were:
Tour boats: 3
Dive boats: 2

-SOPs
-Coding Recreational fishing data

 

shake down of the new boat cradle

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Clear skies. Moderate NE winds. 2+ ft chop

Today was the first real test of getting the Boston Whaler back on the new boat cradle with Easterly wind and waves. The trailer lowers down into the water great because we added big cement paving stones for weight and ballast. It also means that the boat doesn’t pull it up off the track when a wave rolls in. The boat stays pretty straight on the trailer, even with waves, because of the new stern posts. Although, it helps to run the stern line to a cleat on the jetty and then forward to be able to pull the stern in next to the jetty when you need to. The new ratchet winch (used to pull the boat up on the trailer) is safe for the fingers, easy to use, and has great torque. And despite filling my boots with water, the new setup works great.

Off station from 1400 to 1530
Jamieson and Jer are no longer on site

-Worked on SOPs

animal census

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Sunny all day. Light E-NE winds. Cold! It dropped below freezing over night.

I found some treasure on the boat ramp this morning in the form of a drift card. Although there are several groups that set out these small, buoyant yellow cards to study ocean circulation patterns, this card is meant to map the potential distribution patterns and impacts of an oil spill from a tanker. For more information, check out the website that’s written on the image of the card.

P1010565

Animal Census
California Sea lion: 371
Stellar Sea lion: 308
Harbour seal: 66
Elephant seal: 3
Gull: 647
Cormorant: 977
Eagle: 1

Jamieson and Jer are still out here
-Diesel to Keeper’s House
-Took down some electric fences
-Puttery yard work

visitors

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Light winds. Clear skies.
Two Eagles this morning.
The Canada Geese have all left the reserve.
There are two elephant seals on the boat ramp.
 

Jamieson and Jer are out for the night
-Worked on SOPs
-Replaced boat ratchet winch
-Put the rest of the paving stones on the boat dolly

 

rainbows

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A day of squalls. Sunny periods, followed by sideways rain. Lot’s of rainbows all day.

This photo was forwarded on to me out at Race Rocks from a client on one of the eco-tour companies that operates out of Victoria and is a frequent visitor to the reserve. Because of the challenges in tranquilizing a marine mammal, there is very little that can be done for these animals. However, this incident highlights the fact that eco-tour companies can play a critical role in marine conservation by reporting these incidents and by educating their clients about issues surrounding marine debris. There are some great programs out there that focus on shoreline cleanups. Keep an eye out and volunteer for your local beach  cleanups. They usually happen in the summer and are a lot of fun.

For older posts in the log on the topic of sea lion entanglement or ‘rings’ see this link, and for newer incidences search the tag “entanglement“. For injured marine mammal photos from a previous eco-guardian Ryan Murphy see this flikr site.

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