Author Archives: Adam Harding

Fishing illegally

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At 0840hrs PDT a floatplane flew low from W to E over the south side of the Reserve.

At 0930hrs PDT a OBMG rental boat was spotted maneuvering carelessly near the SW side of Great Race.

At 1000hrs PDT the United States Coast Guard Cutter Swordfish entered the E side of the Reserve and approached Great Race. A launch boat with three persons on board was deployed and began to maneuver carelessly and at excessive speed along the E and SE side of Great Race and over Rosedale Reef. VHF contact with the captain of the USCG Cutter Swordfish was made and the vessel left shortly thereafter.

At 1030hrs PDT a recreational vessel was spotted fishing near North Race. The license number 13K115028 was recorded and reported to DFO. The station vessel was launched and the violators were spoken to.

At ~1400hrs PDT a vessel was observed speeding through the channel between North Race and Middle Rock.

In the late afternoon a vessel drifted in and out of the Reserve on the current while fishing. The incident was reported to DFO.

adamjuly162011Pam Birley took this photo on remote control camera 1 of Adam and an assistant pouring concrete to reinforce the base for the boat rail while the tide was out.

DND blasting

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–At 0945hrs PDT a recreational vessel with a man and a woman on board entered from the NE near North Rock at high speed and approached Great Race where they slowed down to transit the Reserve.
–DND has been blasting since 0900hrs this morning.
–A Pearson alumni arrived today to help with some projects over the next few days.

There was 1 visitor to the island today.

visitors

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David and friends arrived for an overnight stay.
At 1950hrs PDT a Canadian Coast Guard chopper flew in from the west over the strait and circled the tower once before heading east in the direction of the CCG Victoria base. Suspect they were performing a quick visual inspection of their equipment while on a return trip from servicing stations up the coast.

There were 3 visitors to the island today.

orcas behave, people don’t

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Orca: 6 A pod of around 6-8 orcas passed W to E through Rosedale Reef this morning.
California Sea Lion: 1
Orca: 8 At 2025hrs PDT a pod of orcas was spotted heading E to W through Race Passage against the flood current. Seven eco-tour boats were in pursuit.

At 0835hrs PDT a Pat Bay Air floatplane flew over Great Race at less than 1000 ft, entering from a direction WNW and exiting E. The aircraft license number was C-FGLU.

At approximately 1135hrs PDT an OBMG rental boat was found to be intermittently maneuvering unnecessarily in the main channel west of Great Race, and to the SW corner of Great Race. The vessel made a pattern of slowing down, speeding up, slowing down, speeding up. Two persons on board, license number 14K37828.

At 1259hrs PDT a pleasure vessel passed over Rosedale Reef at high speed in a direction W to E. No license number or photos obtained.

At 1845hrs PDT a white fibreglass vessel with three persons (man, woman, child) on board was spotted fishing in the RCA in the vicinity of the tidal turbine. The name was “The Liquidator” and the license #6K155545. The incident was reported to DFO and by 1858hrs PDT the vessel had departed in the direction of Beecher Bay.

dump your kids on the island?

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At around 1200hrs a vessel (license #25K5588) with 7 persons on board entered the Reserve and began to fish on the south side of North Race, within the limits of the RCA. The vessel was reported to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Violation Reporting Hotline. Shortly after, the vessel stopped fishing and motored towards Great Race at high speed. The vessel then slowed and approached the rocks near the sea lion haulout on the NE corner of Great Race. At this point, the Eco-Guardian had left the house and headed down to get a closer look. By the time the Eco-Guardian reached the rocks, the vessel had made contact with the rocks and deposited three young children (6-10 yrs, all female) on the rocks. The boat was floating offshore at approximately 10-15 feet from the rocks, with two adult males and an adult female holding a young child. Asked of their intentions, the folks on board said they were just letting the children play around in the intertidal. The Eco-Guardian then informed them both of the no-fishing rule at Race Rocks and that they weren’t allowed to land their boat on the rocks and walk around. The gentlemen said they were from Alberta and had no idea that these rules were in place and that they would depart immediately. The girls were plucked off the rocks and the boat departed the Reserve.

At around 1330hrs an aluminum runabout (no license number obtained) proceeded at very high speed through the main channel between Great Race and Middle Race in the direction west to east. There were 0 visitors to the island today.