Boats/Visitors
Ecological
Notes
The Royal Canadian Navy says it takes great pains to protect whales, so it was a shock in August when skippers of Victoria-based whale-watching boats reported ugly confrontations with sailors during blasting on Bentinck Island.
Navy officials say they try to avoid endangering passing orcas and humpbacks, just as they take care to protect the ecology of Bentinck Island and the nearby land on shore occupied by the Department of National Defence at Rocky Point in Metchosin.
Its sailors and officers make their homes in Greater Victoria. Like any other residents, they say they want nothing to harm the unique elements of living on southern Vancouver Island, whether it’s marine mammals, migrating birds or the other animals and plants.
“We are actually quite proud of the environmental protection we have in place,” said Commodore J.B. (Buck) Zwick in a special media session.
“We take our roles as environmental stewards very seriously,” said Zwick, who commands the Canadian Fleet Pacific and Naval Training System.
In incidents on Aug. 3 and Aug. 31, whale-watching skippers confronted navy sentries posted in small boats off the island during a blasting session. The whale-watching skippers tried to convince the sentries to call off the blast because orcas were nearby.
Instead, the whale-watchers were told it was too late. The fuse was already lit, and safety procedures forbid any attempt to stop it. According to the whale-watching skippers, when the explosions occurred on the beach minutes later, the creatures were obviously distressed.
The incidents were also a shock for whale-watchers, who say they have always enjoyed a positive relationship with the navy.
Dan Kukat, owner of Spring Tide Whale Watching and navy liaison for the Pacific Whale Watching Association, said in the August incidents, whales were spotted approaching the blast zone, the navy was notified but the blasts went ahead regardless.
Whale-watchers worry the acoustic vibrations from the beach blasting interferes with and even harms the whales. The creatures are echo-locators and make their way around underwater obstacles using sound and echoes.
Kukat emphasized several times he and members of his association have nothing but respect for the navy. It’s just sometimes the natural world could use a break.
“In these days now, when it’s not entirely necessary to defend the country, let’s think about defending the environment, too,” he said in an interview.
The navy, however, maintains it was complying with its Marine Mammal Mitigation Procedure. It’s a 15-year-old document that instructs sailors on what to do at Bentinck Island when marine mammals approach during blasting activity.
It requires sentries, posted in boats 1,000 metres offshore from the beach, to look out for whales. When whales approach within two kilometres, the sentries radio the officer in charge of the blast range, who can shut things down.
In the past, the navy has conducted acoustic studies. They show underwater noise from the land-based explosions is negligible compared to the normal ambient noise levels a whale encounters.
Nevertheless, since August, the navy has taken a second look at its demolition training and how it interacts with whales and whale-watchers. It has halved the maximum amount of C4 plastic explosive to 2.5 pounds from five (1.125 kg from 2.25 kg).
The navy says halving the size of the explosive charge will make no difference to the demolition training for sailors and service people. The noise will be slightly less above ground and water.
“The process is the same, the quantity of the charge makes no difference, except for a bigger bang,” said Capt. (N) Martin Drews, commander of Navy Training and Personnel.
“But it’s important to use live ammunition during training because it helps instil a sense of discipline in our sailors,” said Drews.
Its sailors and officers make their homes in Greater Victoria. Like any other residents, they say they want nothing to harm the unique elements of living on southern Vancouver Island, whether it’s marine mammals, migrating birds or the other animals and plants.
“We are actually quite proud of the environmental protection we have in place,” said Commodore J.B. (Buck) Zwick in a special media session.
“We take our roles as environmental stewards very seriously,” said Zwick, who commands the Canadian Fleet Pacific and Naval Training System.
In incidents on Aug. 3 and Aug. 31, whale-watching skippers confronted navy sentries posted in small boats off the island during a blasting session. The whale-watching skippers tried to convince the sentries to call off the blast because orcas were nearby.
Instead, the whale-watchers were told it was too late. The fuse was already lit, and safety procedures forbid any attempt to stop it. According to the whale-watching skippers, when the explosions occurred on the beach minutes later, the creatures were obviously distressed.
The incidents were also a shock for whale-watchers, who say they have always enjoyed a positive relationship with the navy.
Dan Kukat, owner of Spring Tide Whale Watching and navy liaison for the Pacific Whale Watching Association, said in the August incidents, whales were spotted approaching the blast zone, the navy was notified but the blasts went ahead regardless.
Whale-watchers worry the acoustic vibrations from the beach blasting interferes with and even harms the whales. The creatures are echo-locators and make their way around underwater obstacles using sound and echoes.
Kukat emphasized several times he and members of his association have nothing but respect for the navy. It’s just sometimes the natural world could use a break.
“In these days now, when it’s not entirely necessary to defend the country, let’s think about defending the environment, too,” he said in an interview.
The navy, however, maintains it was complying with its Marine Mammal Mitigation Procedure. It’s a 15-year-old document that instructs sailors on what to do at Bentinck Island when marine mammals approach during blasting activity.
It requires sentries, posted in boats 1,000 metres offshore from the beach, to look out for whales. When whales approach within two kilometres, the sentries radio the officer in charge of the blast range, who can shut things down.
In the past, the navy has conducted acoustic studies. They show underwater noise from the land-based explosions is negligible compared to the normal ambient noise levels a whale encounters.
Nevertheless, since August, the navy has taken a second look at its demolition training and how it interacts with whales and whale-watchers. It has halved the maximum amount of C4 plastic explosive to 2.5 pounds from five (1.125 kg from 2.25 kg).
The navy says halving the size of the explosive charge will make no difference to the demolition training for sailors and service people. The noise will be slightly less above ground and water.
“The process is the same, the quantity of the charge makes no difference, except for a bigger bang,” said Capt. (N) Martin Drews, commander of Navy Training and Personnel.
“But it’s important to use live ammunition during training because it helps instil a sense of discipline in our sailors,” said Drews.
Weather
We have mainly low winds except on the Monday 26th where we got to 40knots from West otherwise it has been between 5knots to 15knots
Ecological
I spotted the 2 first gull chicks and they were 4/5days old …there are for sure more than 2 and the adults gulls are getting aggressive. I saw a river otter and 2 young ones under the crane like usual.7 Elephant seals are steady on the rocks( moulting time). No Sea lions at all.The eagles get motivated and 2 attacked at the same time!
Vessels
I could count 80 fishing boats but not closed, ecotourism vessels full as usual.
Maintenance
Usual chores ..the solar panels got pretty dirty and needs attention. I transferred the last 240 liter of oil in the main house tank
Amy Smart / Times Colonist
June 17, 2017 06:00 AM
A proposed expansion of the federal government’s marine conservation powers could speed protection at Race Rocks and eliminate drilling permits in conservation areas such as Hecate Strait.
Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc introduced amendments to the Oceans Act and Canada Petroleum Resources Act this week.
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The proposal would create interim protection status for sensitive areas, which could include places such as Race Rocks, the biodiverse ecosystem around nine islets in Juan de Fuca Strait.
The interim status would speed conservation in an area by prohibiting new, potentially disruptive activities such as fishing or drilling while the ecosystem is being assessed.
Once interim protection is granted, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard would have up to five years to recommend that a permanent marine protection area be put in place.
Race Rocks has been suggested as a marine protection area since 1998. While its existing status as an ecological reserve already protects it from dumping, dredging and resource extraction, the new designation would add protection to the sea life in its water column, which is not currently protected.
The amendments would also give the minister power to cancel drilling interests in a marine protection area and provide compensation, should no other option be agreed upon.
That could add extra protection to three sponge-glass reefs north of Vancouver Island and in Hecate Strait near Haida Gwaii, said Alexandra Barron, ocean conservation manager for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s B.C. chapter.
The Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound reefs are the largest and most pristine glass-sponge reefs in the world. They are 9,000 years old and cover 1,000 square kilometres, reaching heights of an eight-storey building, according to the society.
The reefs were designated a marine protected area in February.
While there is no active drilling because of a moratorium, several oil and gas companies hold legacy permits in the area, said Candace Newman, senior policy adviser with the petroleum management branch of Natural Resources Canada, during a technical briefing of proposed amendments.
“There are a number of interest owners who hold interests or permits in that area,” Newman said.
“They span from the northern part of Haida Gwaii, between Haida Gwaii and the mainland, south to the northern part of Vancouver Island.”
Barron said it’s a positive move, since drilling could continue if the moratorium were lifted.
She said the society is one of many calling for a blanket ban on oil and gas drilling within marine protected areas — not a case-by-case assessment.
“It’s a good start, they’ve taken some important first steps. We would like to see some of those measures go further,” she said.
Fifteen university marine scientists from Victoria to St. John’s, N.L., also penned a letter to Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc Wednesday, saying the marine protection area designation don’t go far enough.
In 2011, the federal government committed to protect at least 10 per cent of Canadian waters by 2020. The Trudeau government has said it will reach the five per cent mark this year.
But the scientists say only about one per cent is protected.
“Of this, only about 0.1 per cent is strongly protected by restricting resource extraction activities that could harm species of conservation value,” the letter says.
This puts Canada behind other G8 countries in both the quantity and quality of protection, it says.
Science shows that the most effective marine-protection policies ban extractive activities in areas of high biodiversity, said Natalie Ban, an assistant professor at the University of Victoria’s school of environment, who signed the letter.
Ban said there’s a “double standard” in Canada’s protection of land and sea resources.
“We would never stand for having oil and gas extraction in one of our terrestrial parks, so why do we allow it in the ocean?” she said.
asmart@timescolonist.com
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Ecological
ANDERSON, Florence (Zita) Belle On March 30, 2017 Florence (Zita) Belle Anderson, quietly slipped away at home, while laying next to her beloved husband of seventy-three years, Trevor. Born December 30th, 1924 in Victoria at the family home on Midgard Ave., Flo went to Mount View high school and then onto Victoria College in the historic Craigdarroch Castle. She fondly remembered daydreaming about the formal dances held at the castle. After completion of her college exams, she married Trev (May 20th, 1944, Grace Lutheran Church) on his return from serving in the Canadian Airforce, World War II, North Africa. The newlyweds moved to Boundary Bay where they had their first son Garry. Back and forth across Canada four times, the Anderson family moved to different Airforce stations and radar bases adding Stan, Beth and Adrienne to the family along the way. After Trev left the Airforce in 1960, they lived at Miracle Beach for several years. Then the family moved on to their next adventure – twenty years on five West Coast Lighthouses. Flo’s ingenuity led her to achieve any task that she set her mind to and thrive in new situations. During their last seven years on the lighthouse, she and Trev took on a massive undertaking; building their fifty-six foot sailboat Wawa the Wayward Goose. They launched the two-masted ketch from Race Rocks, February 7th, 1982 and headed off for thirteen years of sailing trips. First they sailed locally amongst the Gulf Islands. Then they circumnavigated Vancouver Island. In July 1985, they headed offshore to Hawaii and onto New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Fanning Islands, Pago Pago, returning to Victoria July 1987. Florence had prepared herself by completing a Celestial Navigation course, getting her HAM radio license and joining the Blue Water Cruising Association. They sold Wawa in 1995 settling in Sidney and then in her parents last house in James Bay. Travel has always been a part of Flo’s life. On holidays away from the lighthouse, she and the family travelled on many road trips across North America and an excursion to Portugal and Spain. Flo’s artistic skills started early. She learned to sew, leather work, crochet, tat, spin wool, knit, quilt, draw and paint. While on the lighthouses she taught herself to oil paint and created realistically beautiful wave seascapes. At age seventy, she taught herself to use the computer, wrote a book (Lighthouse Chronicles), found a publisher and went on a book tour around BC. She is predeceased by her parents, Bert and Ida Drader (Victoria), her sisters Nellie Marshall (Niagara Falls, ON) and Eileen Odowichuk (Campbell River) and her brother Bill Drader (Edmonton, AB). She is survived by her husband Trev, sister Julia Guilbault (Victoria), her children Garry Anderson (Phyllis), Stan Anderson (Janet), Beth Cruise, Adrienne Lowden (Jeff); six grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild and two dear life-long friends Kay Johnson and Arlene Bryan We would like to send a heartfelt thank you to Flo’s Caregivers extraordinaire, Lesley, Joanne, Hughette, Michelle and Wendy. And a special thank you to Dr. Rosenberg and Associates for their compasionate and excellent care. There will be a Celebration of Life June 30th , 1:00 – 3:00 pm at 576 Niagara Street. Flo will be dearly missed by all
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Ecological
Maintenance
Boats
Guy left the station around 800 in the morning. We met around noon at the college and debriefed. I came out in the whaler and landed around 1400. I will be here for the month of December.
Ecological
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Ecological
Maintenance
Boats
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Ecological
Maintenance
Boats
