Monthly Archives: March 2015

March 12 – Sunny Census Thursday

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Sunny
Wind: 0-13 knots SW in the morning, NE from mid morning to afternoon and SW in the evening
Air Temperature: Low 9.9°C, High 13.2°C
Ocean Temperature: 9.0°C

Three Pearson students came to Race Rocks this morning. Karen, Sunny and Hanne joined Martin, who has been here since Monday.

The students did some work this afternoon: sweeping all 99 steps of the lighthouse and continuing the process of stowing the chopped wood in all the nooks and crannies of the buildings, to be used next winter to heat the main house.

There was DND blasting happening in the morning and early afternoon on Bentinck Island, less than 1km away from the ecological reserve.

Today’s high temperature of 13.2°C, as measured at the ground weather station, was the highest recorded since 2006, when the weather station was installed. A high of 14°C was recorded by the instruments at the top of the lighthouse.

Three eco tour boats visited the reserve. One boat came very close to a group of sea lions swimming and others hauled out on the South Islands.

The low tide of 1.1m at 13:52, exposed lots of species from the low tide zone into the air. The shore and tidal pools were full of life: mussels, barnacles, limpets and lots of other flora and fauna of the sea. The oystercatchers and shore birds were having a feast.

There were no small birds perching birds seen today. There are usually a few fox, sparrows, savannah sparrows and occasionally juncos and robins zipping around the island.

Here are the results from today’s Megafauna Census:
Elephant Seal: 1
Steller Sea Lion: 54
California Sea Lion: 43
Harbour Seal: 52
Bald Eagle: 9
Great Blue Heron: 1
Crow: 1
Oystercatcher: 4
Double Crested Cormorant: 12
Brandt’s Cormorant: 21
Gull: 247
Canada Goose: 14
Pigeon Guillemot: 9
Harlequin Duck: 13
Surfbird: 3
Black Turnstone: 10
Rock Sandpiper: 2

March 11 – Cleaning, Diving and Nearby Blasting

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Overcast with periods of sun and rain
Wind: 1 – 17 knots NE, switching to W in the evening
Air Temperature: Low 9.0°C, High 11.3°C
Ocean Temperature: 9.0°C

In the morning, the visiting students helped with a service project to clean the algae off the exterior walls of the tank room and boat house. Elbow grease, a non toxic de-algae formula, brushes and water were used to tackle the algae. Rain water was pumped from the collection tank at the Ecoguardian’s House, which saves the energy intensive desalinated water for the kitchens and washrooms.

For several hours beginning at 10:30, DND set off explosives on nearby Bentinck Island, which is less than 1km from the ecological reserve. Birds, marine mammals and an Ecoguardian were startled by the blasts.

This afternoon, the four students doing the rescue diving course practiced more scenarios off the jetty with Chris.

Chris brought a volunteer from Pearson to visit for a couple hours. Myriam Guilbert, who is the mother of second year student Chloé, toured around the island snapping photos of the flora, fauna and views. She had heard lots of stories about Race Rocks from her daughter.

There were two eco tour boats, one recreational boat and the Pearson’s Haiku in the reserve today.

March 10 – Juncos and a Robin

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Cloudy, with fog in the morning
Wind: 0 – 16 knots from the W then NE in the morning, switching to SE in the afternoon
Air Temperature: High 10°C, Low 7°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.9°C

This morning, the Pearson students here for Project Week helped stack firewood in the cupboards outside of the Engine Building.

Four oregon juncos and a robin were seen flying around the southern part of Great Race.

This afternoon, four students took part in rescue diving scenarios with Chris. Afterwards a few of them went snorkelling around the jetty to check out the sea stars, a sea slug and other species.

Chunk continues to hang out near the Marine Science Centre.

Three ecotour boats came into the ecological reserve to share the sights, sounds and smells of the marine mammals and birds with their customers.

March 9 – Pearson Project Week Visitors

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Fog overnight, sunny begining at 9:00
Wind: 6 – 27 knots W to SW
Air Temperature: High °C, Low °C
Ocean Temperature: 9°C

Five second year Pearson students came to Race Rocks this morning to spend part or all of Project Week. Yam, Sean, Martin, Neel and Bader will be exploring Race Rocks, helping out with tasks, studying and diving. Chunk came back onto the island just in time to welcome the visitors as they toured around the ecological reserve.

Yam helped shrink the firewood pile by the tank house by stacking it underneath the stairs of the Marine Science Centre. It will dry out over the summer and be ready to heat the Ecoguardian’s house next winter.

One eco tour boat visited the reserve today.

March 8 – Visitors Galore

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Sunny, with patches of fog in the afternoon
Wind: Light northeasterly in the morning and afternoon, calm in evening and switching to 8 knots W at night
Air Temperature: Low 6°C, High 10°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.9°C

There were a lot of visitors today from a leadership program being put on by the Roy Group for twenty-four students visiting from Texas Christian University. The two groups of twelve students made their way around the island to discover the four archetypes of mythical leadership: magician, sovereign, lover and warrior.

Fog in the mid afternoon made it tricky to navigate the boat to and from Pedder Bay in the afternoon. I benefited from the waypoints that Courtney programmed into the plotter on the boat.

Chunk is still camped out on the grass by the helicopter pad.

There was a dive boat with five divers to the west of South Islands this morning.

March 7

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Sunny
Wind: 3 – 9 knots NE, switching to SE in afternoon
Air Temperature: Low 7°C, Hight 11°C
Ocean Temperature: 9°C

The morning was spent preparing the Marine Science Centre, and tidying around the island, to get ready for visiting students that are coming to Race Rocks this week.

Chunk, the large male elephant seal, is still camped out on the grass below the helicopter pad.

I left the reserve in the afternoon to attend One World, the annual show of dance, music and stories put on by Pearson students. I returned to Race Rocks with a visitor. The boat ride was spectacular as the sunset cast a rainbow of colours over the Juan de Fuca Strait.

Two eco tour boats were seen in the ecological reserve today.

Thank you to Travis, today’s Race Rocks visitor, for the photos.

March 6 – Bright Sun, Bright Moon

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Mostly sunny
Wind: 3 – 11 knots NE
Air Temperature: High 10°C, Low 7°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.8°C

Last night was a full moon. Tonight’s moonrise happened at 19:25. It’s a waning gibbous moon, but it’s still as bright as last night.

The gulls seem to be getting more territorial by the day. I witnessed many gulls attacking each other throughout the day. One gull grabbed onto another’s wing and wouldn’t let go for a minute. Maybe the other gull got too close to a nesting site that was already claimed.

Chunk, the male elephant seal, spent another day in the same spot below the helicopter pad. The female elephant seal splashed around the jetty beach for most of the day.

One eco tour boat visited the reserve today.

March 5 – Census Thursday

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Sunny with occasional clouds
Wind: 0-5 knots from N and switching around to SW throughout the day
Air temperature: High 10C, Low 6C
Ocean temperature: 8.9C

A great blue heron hung out on northeast side of Great Race for the afternoon. The oystercatchers are travelling around in pairs and are quite vocal. The gulls have spread themselves out around the island as they start to find nesting sites. Chunk returned to Great Race during the night. He spent the day resting against a boulder and the rock below the helicopter pad. The female elephant seal is relaxing in the same spots as yesterday, to the west of the main house.

Today’s census results:
Elephant Seal: 2
Steller Sea Lion: 18
California Sea Lion: 28
Harbour Seal: 41
Bald Eagle: 6 (3 adult, 3 juvenile)
Raven: 2
Great Blue Heron: 1
Double Crested Cormorant: 9
Brandt’s Cormorant: 15
Black Oystercatcher: 8
Canada Goose: 17
Pigeon Guillemot: 36
Gull: 103
Harlequin Duck: 11
Surfbird: 2
Black Turnstone: 15
Savannah Sparrow: 1

One eco tour boat and one recreational boat visited the reserve today.

New DFO Report highly critical of Kinder Morgan /TMX environmental assessment on Whales

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The recentlly released DFO report:
(See Full PDF) SUFFICIENCY REVIEW OF THE INFORMATION ON EFFECTS OF UNDERWATER NOISE AND THE POTENTIAL FOR SHIP STRIKES FROM MARINE SHIPPING ON MARINE MAMMALS IN THE FACILITIES APPLICATION FOR THE TRANS MOUNTAIN EXPANSION PROJECT was very critical of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project Application documents. The Conclusion of the report is concerned with Vessel strikes on Whales and the overall impact of noise from increased Project-related traffic.  Included below are the conclusions of the report.

Conclusions

There are deficiencies in both the assessment of potential effects resulting from ships strikes and exposure to underwater noise in the Trans Mountain Expansion Project Application documents.

There is insufficient information and analysis provided with which to assess ship strike risk in the Marine RSA from either existing or Project-related traffic. Ship strike is a threat of conservation concern, particularly for baleen whales such as Fin Whales, Humpback Whales and other baleen whales (Gregr et al. 2006). If shipping intensity increases as projected in Section 4.4 in the Marine RSA and the Strait of Georgia and Juan de Fuca Strait as a whole, the significance of this threat to cetacean populations that occupy the region will increase.

Incidence of recovered whale carcasses is not considered to be an adequate measure of the frequency of ship strikes. No information is provided about the speed and maneuverability of Project-related ships or the distribution of whales in relation to the shipping lanes. Analyses that consider the statistical probability of ship-whale encounters and the risk of collisions are considered appropriate methodologies to assess this potential effect.

The JASCO MONM model, as it has been applied by the Proponent, is not adequate to assess the overall impact of noise from increased Project-related traffic. Although state-of-the-art acoustic modelling has been used to model the noise propagation associated with a single Project-related tanker in the Marine RSA, only four locations were chosen to represent the Marine RSA; therefore, the assessment does not adequately represent the noise exposure for the entire time a marine mammal would be in the RSA. The assessment represents only Project-related tanker traffic and not the current noise environment or the potential increase due to Project-related traffic. Finally, the method used to assess the significance of impacts from the modelled noise level contours resulting from a single Project-related tanker and tug on indicator cetacean and pinniped species is qualitative and the lack of an appropriate assessment framework reduces DFO’s ability to evaluate the assessment.

(See Full PDF) SUFFICIENCY REVIEW OF THE INFORMATION ON EFFECTS OF UNDERWATER NOISE AND THE POTENTIAL FOR SHIP STRIKES FROM MARINE SHIPPING ON MARINE MAMMALS IN THE FACILITIES APPLICATION FOR THE TRANS MOUNTAIN EXPANSION PROJECT

See other posts on Oil Spill Risk for the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve

March 4 – Eagle Gathering

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Sunny
Wind: 8 knots NNE in the morning, diminishing in the afternoon and switching to W in the evening
Air Temperature: High 9C, Low 4C
Ocean Temperature: 8.8C

Twelve bald eagles were hanging out on the South Islands this morning. Many of them stuck around for the rest of the day, flying to different perches around the reserve.

Chunk left the main island at some point last night. The female elephant seal is still camped out to the east of the main house.

Courtney and Max visited for a couple hours this morning to do some maintenance on the cameras and other technology. Camera 5 is almost online again. One more replacement part needs to be installed in the coming days. The Davis weather station is back up and running after a few days offline. Thanks to Max fixing the computer that uploads the weather data.

There was more munitions blasting today at nearby Rocky Point.

Three eco tour boats visited the reserve today.