Author Archives: Riley Strother

Seawater Data, September 2016

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Station Race Rocks Lightstation
Month: September Year: 2016
Observer Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific
Date Time Sea Jar Hydro-   meter   No. Observed Density YSI Salinity YSI Temp °C
Temp. Temp.
°C °C
1 15:10 30.9 12.0
2 18:45 31.9 11.3
3 16:40 31.6 12.3
4 18:45 32.0 11.2
5 17:30 31.7 11.4
6 19:30 31.6 11.3
7 19:00 31.4 11.4
8 19:10 31.4 12.2
9 19:15 31.1 12.3
10 19:15 31.1 12.5
11 20:04 30.8 12.8
12 19:30 30.7 12.7
13 18:30 30.7 12.3
14 Not Done Not Done Not Done
15 16:15 31.6 11.4
16 14:35 10.8 10.7 10802 242 31.5 10.8
17 15:15 31.7 11.0
18 15:48 32.2 10.5
19 15:50 32.5 9.9
20 16:55 32.1 10.6
21 17:47 32.0 10.5
22 10:38 32.5 9.9
23 10:51 32.2 10.2
24 11:45 32.1 10.6
25 13:30 31.9 10.8
26 13:45 31.9 10.8
27 13:45 31.3 11.4
28 13:42 31.9 11.0
29 14:05 31.9 10.8
30 14:27 31.9 10.9
31
Submitted to: Inst. Ocean Science, P.O. Box 6000, Sidney, B.C. V8L 4B2
Peter Chandler
Recorded by Race Rocks Ecological Reserve Guardian on behalf of Lester B. Pearson College

Census Day!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots SW
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: calm
  • Beautiful sunrise today!

sunrise-1-29-9 sunrise-2-29-9

Ecological

  • Saw four branded sea lions today.
  • One Steller branded 998R.
  • Three California’s branded X611, 88, and U22[?].
  • Conducted the weekly census.
  1. California Sea Lions: 486
  2. Northern (Steller) Sea Lions: 169
  3. Harbour Seals: 151
  4. Elephant Seals: 7 on Middle Rock
  5. Sea gulls: 1020
  6. Cormorants: 20
  7. Savannah Sparrows: 20
  8. Harlequin Ducks: 4 (2 male, 2 female)
  9. Black Oystercatchers: 3
  10. Bald Eagles: 2 adult
  11. Canada Geese: 2
  12. Black Turnstone: 1

Maintenance

  • The usual chores were accomplished.

Boats

  • Several eco-tours today. Nothing unusual or problematic to report.

Other

  • Lots of DND blasting today.
  • Most of today’s blasts were louder than those from earlier this week.
  • 9:34, 9:36, 10:07, 10:09, 10:38, 10:40, 11:14, 11:46, 11:48, 12:11, and 13:14.

Pearson Students and Brands

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots NE, later West
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • Saw two branded California sea lions.
  • U400 and U714.
  • Discovered a couple of recently deceased juvenile sea gulls.
  • Cause of death unknown.

Maintenance

  • The usual chores.

Boats

  • Lots of ecotours today.
  • One appeared to be going over the speed limit within the edge of the reserve.
  • Several times there were at least 3 in the Middle Channel.
  • Kyle brought two loads of students out in Second Nature.
  • One small boat was observed fishing illegally within the Rockfish Conservation area.
  • They were reported to the DFO.

Visitors

  • Kyle, Laura, 14 Pearson students, and 3 filmmakers came out.
  • The students were supposed to be doing wind and wave measurements, but Race Rocks was providing very little in that department today.

Other

  • Six pair of small DND blastings today.
  • They took place early in the hour, every hour, from the 10th until the 15th.

Fog ‘n Whales

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Weather

  • Visibility: ranging between 0 and 15+ miles today.
  • Wind: 0-5 knots, at various times from the N, S, or W.
  • Sky: cloudy and often very foggy.
  • Water: calm.

Ecological

  • At least 3 orcas swam along the edge of the reserve from West Rock towards the North Rocks this afternoon.
  • They were followed by several boats.
  • Noticed a few elephant seals mingling with the sea lions near the energy building and on the ramp.

Maintenance

  • Reset the electric fence in the morning.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • The usual stuff like toilet maintenance, sea water sample, and generator.

Boats

  • When it wasn’t foggy there were several ecotours in the reserve today.
  • Several times there were three boats quite close together viewing the sea lions.
  • At times I wondered if perhaps some of the ecotours were both technically in the reserve (not allowed when whales are present) and too close to the whales (see above photos).

Other

  • Three pairs of DND blasting today.
  • 11:47 and 11:49.
  • 1:28 and 1:30.
  • 2:24 and 2:26.
  • The Fog Horn was active much of the night and often throughout the day.

A Return To Race Rocks

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Ahoy, Riley Strother here. I have returned for another stint as eco-guardian here at Race Rocks!

Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: up to 35 knots NW in the evening.
  • Sky: mostly clear
  • Water: small waves

gorgeous-sunset-26-9

Ecological

  • The sea lions continue to roam about the island like a herd of cats.
  • Sea lion moulting time is a new experience for me.
  • I observed at least 4 elephant seals.

Maintenance

  • When I arrived Anne was running the desalinator. I shut it off later.
  • I was given a tour of the various changes to certain systems by Anne/Kyle.
  • Spent a few hours unpacking and settling back into the house.

Boats

  • At least 20 ecotours came by today. None of them seemed to cause any problems, though some were perhaps too close?
  • I overheard what sounded like a rather heated exchange on the radio, but the boats in question were outside the reserve.
  • Kyle came out in Second Nature to drop me off, pick up Anne and Alex, and to transport the chimney sweep fellows.

boat-1-26-9 boat-2-and-3-26-9

Visitors

  • Kyle.
  • Two chimney sweepers came to sweep the chimneys in each house, as well as inspect and change the filters in the furnaces.

Seawater Data, August 2016

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Station Race Rocks Lightstation
Month: August Year: 2016
Observer Lester B. Pearson College   of the Pacific
I had to enter the values in myself (there was no spreadsheet on the computer) so I am hopeful that I was able to read all of Guy et Christine’s vague handwritten numbers.
Date Time Sea Jar Hydro-   meter   No. Observed Density YSI Salinity YSI Temp °C
Temp. Temp.
°C °C
1  21:00 30.3 12.4
2  20:00 30.7 12.0
3  19:00 30.1 12.2
4  19:30 30.5 12.6
5  17:39 31.2 12.1
6  18:15 31.1 12.0
7  18:20 30.9 11.9
8  19:10 31.2 12.0
9  19:45 30.7 12.7
10  20:00 30.9 12.4
11  20:10 30.6 12.8
12  21:20 30.3 13.3
13  20:00 29.6 13.1
14  20:45 29.2 13.3
15  21:00 30.1 13.0
16  20:30 30.1 12.9
17  19:30 30.3 12.7
18  18:50 30.5 13.3
19  18:30 30.7 13.3
20  17:30 11.8 12.4 10,802 1.0230 31.5 12.5
21  17:30 31.6 12.1
22  19:00 31.4 12.3
23  18:30 31.2 12.4
24  19:20 31.2 12.4
25  20:05 31.2 12.6
26  20:15 30.9 12.5
27  20:40 30.7 12.4
28  20:15 30.9 12.3
29  17:10 31.1 12.4
30  17:00 31.1 12.3
31  15:05 31.6 11.9
Submitted monthly to: Inst. Ocean Science, P.O. Box 6000, Sidney, B.C. V8L 4B2
Recorded by Race Rocks Ecological Reserve Guardian for Lester B. Pearson College

Seawater Data, July 2016

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Time Zone: PDT
Station Race Rocks Lightstation
2016 July
Observer Lester B. Pearson College   of the Pacific
Date Time YSI Salinity YSI Temp celsius Hydro- meter     No. Observed Density
1 20:50 30.6 11.7 10,802
2 20:55 31.4 11.0 10,802
3 20:45 31.4 10.9 10,802
4 21:05 31.2 11.5 10,802
5 20:00 31.3 11.2 10,802
6 20:15 31.0 11.6 10,802
7 20:30 31.2 11.0 10,802
8 20:30 30.9 11.2 10,802
9 19:30 31.1 11.7 10,802
10 20:30 30.8 12.5 10,802
11 20:30 30.8 12.0 10,802
12 20:35 31.2 11.8 10,802
13 21:15 30.6 12.3 10,802
14 21:30 30.4 12.2 10,802
15 21:30 30.4 12.1 10,802
16 21:45 30.4 12.7 10,802
17 20:50 30.5 12.2 10,802
Sea temp:11.8 jar temp:12.2
obsv.density
1.023
18 21:00 30.3 12.4 10,802
19 21:00 30.7 12.2 10,802
20 21:10 30.6 11.8 10,802
21 20:00 31.2 11.9 10,802
22 19:30 30.6 11.8 10,802
23 19:00 31.4 11.6 10,802
24 19:15 31.4 11.6 10,802
25 19:00 31.4 12.2 10,802
26 20:00 31.3 12.1 10,802
27 20:15 30.8 12.0 10,802
28 21:15 30.7 12.3 10,802
29 20:20 30.6 12.3 10,802
30 21:00 30.5 12.4 10,802
31 21:30 30.5 12.3 10,802
Mean*                * 30.9 11.9 #DIV/0!
Submitted to: Inst. Ocean Science, P.O. Box 6000, Sidney, B.C. V8L 4B2
Peter Chandler
Recorded by Race Rocks Marine Protected Area Guardian
Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific

Seawater Data, June 2016

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Station Race Rocks Lightstation
Month: June Year: 2016
Observer Lester B. Pearson College   of the Pacific
Date Time Sea Jar Hydro-   meter   No. Observed Density YSI Salinity YSI Temp °C
Temp. Temp.
°C °C
1  14:10 32.2 10.9
2  13:19 32.1 11.0
3  17:15 32.1 11.4
4  18:15 31.9 11.2
5  18:45 32.3 11.1
6  20:30 32.3 10.2
7  19:00 32.8 10.2
8  20:00 33.1 9.8
9  21:00 32.5 10.4
10  20:30 32.4 10.5
11  21:00 32.2 10.7
12  21:00 32.2 10.9
13  21:00 32.0 10.7
14  21:20 29.6 11.4
15  21:10 30.2 11.6
16  20:50 29.8 11.5
17  21:00 30.2 11.8
18  20:45 30.7 11.2
19  21:50 30.7 11.4
20  20:40  11.6 11.8 10,802 1.023 30.8 11.3
21  21:00 30.6 11.7
22  20:45 31.2 11.1
23  20:45 31.0 11.6
24  20:00 31.5 10.9
25  20:45 31.0 10.9
26  21:00 30.8 12.3
27  20:30 30.7 12.5
28  20:45 31.1 11.7
29  21:00 31.2 11.3
30  21:20 30.6 11.5
31
Submitted monthly to: Inst. Ocean Science, P.O. Box 6000, Sidney, B.C. V8L 4B2
Recorded by Race Rocks Ecological Reserve Guardian for Lester B. Pearson College

Chunk vs. Chuckles

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0 knots most of the day, until the evening when it hit 40 knots West
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • 14 elephant seals on Great Race; 2 on Middle Rock.
  • Chunk and Chuckles engaged in friendly water battles for over an hour.
  • The tagged female elephant seal from California is still around.
  • The single odd looking seagull egg from May 29th has turned into 2 normal gull eggs.

Maintenance

  • Topped up the tidy tank with diesel.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • General cleaning up.
  • Wrote the month end report.
  • Sent off the May seawater data.

Boats

  • At 12:30 there were 5 large eco-tours in the reserve at once. This might be too many at once?
  • What is quite probably the largest eco-tour I have ever seen came through Middle Channel today.

Other

  • At least 7 DND blasts today.
  • They came at 9:46, 9:47, 9:48, 10:29, 10:29, 10:30, and at 11:03.
  • The first 6 were medium blasts; the last one was huge.
  • Usually we are notified ahead of time of blasting, but the most recent email only indicated blasting from June 1-3.
  • Today is the last full day of my shift. Guy and Christine will be taking over tomorrow.

DSC_6505

Spontaneous Whale Watching!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Mt. Baker visible at times today.
  • Wind: 10-15 knots West
  • Sky: clear and sunny!
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • We spied three eagles on Turbine Rock this morning.
  • 14 elephant seals on Great Race today, including both Chunk and Chuckles.
  • As Second Nature was departing Race Rocks sometime after 9:00, Kyle spied several whale watching boats following a pod of orcas outside the reserve.
  • I hopped aboard (sans camera) and we went off to join the fleet.
  • Over the next half hour or so, we watched 5 or 6 orcas as they repeatedly surfaced on their southerly course.
  • Christine (Guy’s wife) took several photographs; perhaps she will share them with us soon.
  • Pam Birley discovered a Black Oystercatcher nest today via webcam. That makes 3 known nests.
  • As Pam noted, it is “not a good spot to nest because the Otter likes to sunbathe in that spot on the rocks.”

Maintenance

  • I did some yellow paint touch up on the jetty.
  • Sprayed more algicide on the students’ house.
  • Shut-down the students’ house.

Boats

  • Second Nature arrived around 9:00, and properly departed around 10:00 after our unexpected whale watching trip!
  • Many eco-tours came by today.
  • A few of them appeared to be too close to the sea lions.

Visitors

  • Kyle, Guy, Christine, and their daughter arrived at 9:00.
  • Guy and Christine were dropping off some gear for their upcoming shift.
  • Maya, Tazi, and Ali departed on Second Nature.

Tazi, Maya, Ali

Ali, Maya, Tazi, Mt. Baker