Author Archives: Courtney Edwards

Animal Census

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Mostly clear skies. Strong West wind all day.

The flag was set at half-mast today to mark the national day of remembrance of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.  According to the Canadian War Museum, the capture of Vimy was more than just an important battlefield victory, it became a symbol for the sacrifice of the young Dominion. Brigadier-General A.E. Ross declared after the war, “in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation.”

 

Animal Census

Steller Sea lion: 41
California Sea lion: 8
Harbour Seal: 153
Elephant Seal: 16!
Gulls: 301
Canada Geese: 20
Black Turnstone: 6
Harlequin Duck: 4
Oystercatcher: 8

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Introduced Ornamentals

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Light North wind this morning. Strong Westerlies this afternoon. Rain with periods of sun.

1 tour boat

This morning was the first time this Spring that there have been a few California Sea lions resting on the end of the jetty.

With Spring mostly here, many of the introduced ornamental plants are flowering. This isn’t a complete plant inventory, just a selection of plants that I noticed on my photo walk. The terrestrial plants at Race Rocks are dominated by introduced and invasive species. This is something that occurs at most light stations. There is a long history of trying to make the light stations look “like home”; Which is usually done by introducing hardy ornamental plants that can survive (although only a few thrive) on remote, salt and wind blasted light stations. Continue reading →

Halibut fishing

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Clear skies. Light North to North-East winds most of the day. Moderate Westerly this evening. Environment Canada beat out NOAA for the correct weather forecast today.

2 tour boats

For the past few days there have been a few recreational fisherman anchored just outside of the reserve boundaries fishing for halibut. You can tell they are fishing for halibut because they are anchored, usually with a scotsman buoy on the chain just off the bow; If they were after salmon they would be trolling. These fisherman are capitalizing on an effect called “spillover” where the high fish populations from a reserve act as a source to seed nearby areas. This effect is recognized as one of the many, valuable benefits protected areas in the marine environment.  The recreational halibut fishery opened on February 1st and will remain open until further notice from DFO. The rules this year are as follows:

  • Maximum length is 126 cm.
  • The daily limit is 1.
  • The possession limit is 2, only one of which may be greater than 83cm in length.
  • The annual limit is 6 halibut per licence holder.
  • For each halibut retained by the licence holder, the date of capture, the Fisheries Management Area from which it was caught and its length shall be immediately recorded in ink on the 2013-2014 Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence.

  • Area 121 aka Swiftsure Bank is a Closed Area to all finfish capture

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Power Restrictions

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Cloudy with scattered showers. Strong West wind in the evening.

4 tour boats

I spent the day with Aileen and her advisee group. Because there were 10 students (with all of their associated electronic equipment) the breaker on the inverter to the science house was tripped last night which resulted in a total electrical shut-down of the Science house where everyone was staying.  Our system and these old houses are just not meant for that much of a power draw. Because of that little power outage, the morning was spent showing them about the energy and resource systems on Race Rocks, with a strong emphasis on living within reasonable means, especially when in a remote place like this. My solution to the excessive use of power was to only allow them to use 2 plugs in the house to charge computers and phones. I think (hope) it turned into an unexpected team building exercise where they had to charge things minimally and barter for plug-time. Either way, it meant that we didn’t have any more power issues for the rest of their stay and it is something that I will implement for future groups.

I counted 13 Elephant seals on Middle rock. They return to Race Rocks for a few months in Spring to moult. Although they look absolutely terrible when they are moulting, it is a natural process that they undergo every year.

 

 

Windows

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Clear skies. Moderate wind.

9 tour boats

Today was the last day of our recreational fishing count with DFO.

Erik brought out two contractors to measure all the windows that need to be replaced. Most of them are in the Science House. Some of the windows are so bad that there is either a 1-2cm salt crystal garden or a few centimeters of water between the panes.

-month end report
-compiled DFO data and images

 

Sea Scouts

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Moderate West wind, easing in the afternoon. Low West swell. Patchy clouds.

A group of sea scouts came out for a tour today. They left out of Victoria Harbour on a schooner called Passing Cloud (Operated by Outer Shores Expeditions). They spent a couple hours on the island. Learning about the animals, the history of Race Rocks, and taking a look at the world from the top of the lighthouse.