Category Archives: Admin

Killer Whales and Sport-fishers to the West

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Another glorious day on the rock with good visibility, calm waters and a clear sky. The barometer rose gradually until noon and then dropped slightly. Barely perceptible outflow winds kept the fog out at sea and it looks like a similar forecast for Friday.

There was a lot of activity in the Reserve today with whale watching boats stopping by to see the sea lions en-route, back and forth between Victoria and the two pods of transient (aka Bigg’s) Killer Whales off to the west. The smaller pod had four individuals and passed close to the reserve heading west spending the day between Becher Bay and Beachy Head. A second larger pod was reported from further west near Otter Point by days’ end. A total of 37 tour boats were noted in the reserve and many more passed by at speed outside of the boundaries. They keep constant contact with the whales during the day and pass off to each other, on leaving the area.

A couple of recreational boats spent time in the reserve today, one photographing sea lions for several hours and the other jigging. The conservation area is bounded by the 40 meter contour, and no jigging is allowed. Jigging targets territorial fish such as rockfish and lingcod although you can catch coho that way too. The Conservation Area is enforced by DFO and is there to protect long-lived, territorial fish like rockfish and lingcod, so that their offspring can disperse to other areas with the currents. A Marine Protected area like Race Rocks becomes a source of recruitment of young fish to nearby areas that don’t have protection and this ultimately makes the fishing more sustainable.

It was census day today.
Biggs’ Killer Whales 4
Steller’s Sea Lions 243 (7 brands noted)
California Sea Lions 334 (7 completed brands noted, 1 incomplete)
Total sea lions both species = 577
Harbour Seals 142
Elephant Seal 1 (pup)
Savannah Sparrows 8 (seemed to fly off to the south across the Strait after visiting)
Double-crested Cormorants 11
Pelagic Cormorants 4
Black Turnstones 7
Sandpipers 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Glaucous-winged Gulls 99 (4 chicks still begging)
Heerman’s Gulls 5
California Gull 1
Black Oystercatchers 7
The Pigeon Guillemots were not spotted today so I assume that the chicks finally fledged and have headed off to sea. I will miss them. It is fun to watch them ride the currents and carry crazy-looking fish to their young.

There were no visitors today, although both Second Nature and Hyaku made multiple trips within a stone’s throw of the jetty, as part of student orientation week.

Recovery of species and spaces at risk.

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Another glorious day at Race Rocks with westerly flow, basically a repeat of yesterday weather-wise. The barometer has dropped a bit over the evening and the wind has shifted to the southwest. Here is a graph of the atmospheric pressure that can be pulled up on the racerocks.com website. Tomorrow looks similar, windy with a chance of showers.

barometer

There were 33 tour boats today including a few that may not have been commercial. Some of the tour boats are really enormous and barely fit in the passage. There were at least 17 recreational fishers, again with some jigging by the rentals in the closed conservation area. Amazingly, a DFO patrol boat passed by and did nothing while these folks were slaying bottom fish in the reserve. I was up in the tower and couldn’t get the K-numbers as they are only painted on one side of the boat.

I did record another four sea lion brands in between chores and spotting killer whales travelling and feeding from the southwest to the southeast. There was one large bull, one little one with (probably) its mother and at least two others. I wasn’t close enough to identify them but if they were southern residents they are very endangered.

I was thinking about their chances of recovery when I noticed they were perfectly lined up with the Elwha River valley across the Strait in Olympic National Park. It reminded me of that Margaret Mead quote “Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” The recovery of the Elwha ecosystem is a remarkable story.

Not so remarkable, was the rest of my day; cleaning windows, killing flies, trying to learn how to use the camera, attempting to “train” the sea lions to get off the jetty and pursuing the regular drill of fighting entropy.

What’s your number?

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It was a day without fog at Race Rocks and as the westerlies continue, some serious clouds can be seen piling up on far horizons. The barometer rose all day, which bodes well for tomorrow but there may be a few needed showers.

It was a busy day on the water with 26 whale watching boats visiting the reserve. From the expressions on the tourists’ faces, they seemed to enjoy watching the sea lions. All the skippers were respectful except for two travelling together who did not heed the go-slow zone.

There were so many recreational fishing boats that I could only keep track of the ones who were in contravention of the DFO Rockfish Conservation Area closure which runs around the reserve at a 40m depth. Many of those fishing inside the boundary were in rental boats but some of the other speed boats were doing what they do best…speeding. The Pedder Bay Marina is really good about talking to folks who rent from them and informing them about the conservation area.

I looked for tagged and branded sea lions again today and can report another nine California Sea Lions and four Stellers’ Sea Lions bringing the total number of branded individuals sighted up to 29. Eventually we will know a bit more about their stories from those numbers they carry. There are also two Stellers with neck rings cutting into their flesh and one with a flasher hanging out of its’ mouth. There are individual Harbour Seals, as well as both species of sea lions with major wounds. Speaking of wounds, there were two new, (to me), very small Elephant Seals on the ramp today, probably young of the year, judging from the size.

A few Pigeon Guillemots are still carrying into fish into the large boulder area by the jetty. The chicks must leave for sea at night as I haven’t seen any on the water and most are probably fledged by now. Each day, there are more Pelagic and Double Crested Cormorants roosting on the southwest side of the island.

The desalinator worked for a couple of hours during the sunshine today, making fresh water thanks to the solar panels.

Month end inventory was conducted today with measurements taken of all the fuel, fresh water, and equipment run times recorded.

My other task was to try and stake out a small territory on the jetty so that I can come and go and do the sampling. The elephant seals are no problem, they just sleep as you pass, or open one eye. Keeping the more belligerent California sea lions off the jetty seems to be a losing battle and has made getting out to the end of the jetty to sample seawater, extra challenging.

Fog and sunshine

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There was a tiny bit of rain with fog early today and then it switched back to near gale westerlies with heavy fog interspersed with sunshine. It is a beautiful starlight evening and the westerly continues to drop. The barometer held fairly steady today with a slight increase this evening. Environment Canada says that a strong westerly wind warning stays in effect for Sunday with a chance of showers.

There were ten whale watching boats in the Reserve today and they were all well behaved. A dive charter boat with eleven divers aboard came through the reserve but I am not sure where they dove.

Two male kayakers , one in a green kayak and the other in a reddish-brown kayak came through the passage on the south side of Great Race in the early afternoon and caused a sea lion stampede. They then proceeded to fish right in the closed conservation area. There were also two recreational boats fishing in the marine protected area.

A few more sea lion brands were observed today including one seven year-old female Steller’s Sea Lion that was branded as a pup in 2007 at Rogue Reef , near Gold Beach in southern Oregon.

This was my first day to not see Elephant Seals and California Sea Lions have taken over the jetty and marine railway. Some of them are a bit scary looking and do not want to move so that I can do seawater data collection.

Three River Otters were out and about in daylight today. Usually you don’t see them and just guess that they are around in the evening as all the gulls lift off and call. There were two young, very healthy-looking animals with an adult. Maybe that it why there are so many Glaucous-winged gull chick mortalities here? (Just a guess.)

Alex was quite excited to see some of the old lighthouse artifacts including parts of an old Fairbanks-Morris engine. He also pointed out where the old granite light-keepers house had been removed from its attachment to the base of the light tower.

The tasks today were the basic, regular tasks of  cleaning the solar panels, running the generator, launching and bringing the boat back up in order to drop off Alex, repairing the jetty fence (twice) and taking the salinity measurement. Tomorrow is month-end report time.

 

 

Trustee Tour Day

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The wind was out of the west today although it did swing to the southwest a few times and is trending that way now. The barometer has been slowly dropping for a few days. A few real clouds made another gorgeous sunset with a super crescent moon low in the west.

There were three tour boats today and one recreational fishing boat was noted fishing inside the reserve boundary today. They must have known as they stopped as soon as it was clear that they were being observed. There was military blasting today.

An animal census indicated 200 fewer sea lions than last week and brought to light 17 tagged and branded animals, with nine complete tag numbers recorded and seven partials. One of the Northern Sea Lions appears to have a badly embedded line around and growing into its’ neck. Only seven Glaucous–winged Gulls remain unfledged although some of the adults, presumably with failed nests are still carrying around nesting material and acting broody. At least one Pigeon Guillemot is bringing fish into the large boulder scree just west of the jetty, presumably they have a late chick there that they are feeding.

The struggle for sustainability continues and the solar panels contributed well to the island’s energy needs today even though it was not sunny all day.

Chris brought out a family group of 11 people with at least three generations today on Second Nature. They were delighted to make first hand observations of sea lion and elephant seal behaviour and enjoyed the beauty of the place.

Maintenance work consisted of the routine cleaning of solar panels, mucking out the waste, repairing the jetty fence line, collecting seawater salinity data and making biological observations. The generator was only run for an hour and a half, thanks to the solar panels.

Esquimalt First Nation Traditional land (and water) use areas.

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In August, 2014, the Trans Mountain Pipeline consultant Tera submitted a “Supplemental Traditional Marine Resource Transportation Technical Report. 

In it, a chart is presented with areas of traditional use by the Esquimalt First Nations is presented. This is the first time this kind of map has appeared, and it is rather interesting since the Esquimalt FN remained uninvolved throughout the Race Rocks MPA Advisory Board meetings .

 

“EXECUTIVE SUMMARY An Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment was completed by TERA, a CH2M HILL Company,and was submitted as part of the Application to the National Energy Board (NEB) in December 2013 for the proposed Trans Mountain Expansion Project (referred to as TMEP or the Project). The NEB will conduct a detailed review and hold a Public Hearing to determine if it is in the public interest to recommend a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for construction and operation of the Project. Pending regulatory approval, Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC (Trans Mountain) plans to begin construction in 2016 and go into service in 2017.Trans Mountain will continue to engage Aboriginal communities through all phases of the Project. Traditional Marine Resource Use (TMRU) information received from participating communities will be reviewed in order to confirm literature results and mitigation measures. Additional issues of concern, TMRU sites or features identified through ongoing engagement with Aboriginal communities will be considered for incorporation into Project planning under the guidance of existing marine transport regulations and mitigation recommendations. The results of these ongoing engagement efforts will be provided to the NEBin future supplemental filings. Further information is provided in Technical Report (TR) 8B-5 in Volume 8B,  Traditional Marine Resource Use Technical Report of the Application. ”

This report contained a map of the traditional use areas of Esquimalt First Nations which shows use of the  Race Rocks Area as well as the adjacent coastline. It is shown in this link:

esquimalttraditionallanduse area

Click for large version

Orcas

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Fog all morning. North westerlies 20-30 knots all day. Clear skies in the afternoon. Barometric pressure hovering 1019.0 hPa.

31 whale watching boats

2 recreational fishing boats (one actively fishing)

There was a 12 ft zodiac off the South Islands of the reserve today. Unfortunately the boat was not a boat license number so I could not report it to the DFO.

A big pod of orcas went right through the north channel of the reserve this evening. There were 2-3 a couple hundred metres in front of another group of 10-12. No breaching but lots of dorsal fin and you could easily make out the white markings. A Prince of Whales zodiac followed the pod for a long time staying within 20 metres of them with the motor running.

Finished cleaning the boathouse today and started on the tank shed.

 

Humpbacks

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Overcast this morning with some rain, clearing up in the afternoon. Strong winds from 0800h onwards. Barometric pressure on the rise since Wednesday morning. Fifteen to 25 knot winds are predicted for tomorrow.

19 whale watching boats

There were two humpbacks on the southern border of the reserve this afternoon heading west. Several whale watchers surrounded them. Eagle Winged Tours was particularly persistent in chasing them. We now have 5 elephant seals on the reserve. Chunk, the big male, and the other four about half of his size or smaller. Chunk is looking very slim.

Two bombs sounded this morning off of Bentinck Island around 1015h.

Went into campus today from 1330h to 1530h to pick up a visitor for the night. Took a load of garbage/junk with me off the island.

Illegal fishing in the reserve

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North westerlies 20-25 knots most of the morning. After noon the winds picked up considerably. Sky has been changing all day. Sun and clouds. Heavy fog in the morning. Light winds forecasted for tomorrow morning with 15-25 knots later in the day. 1 whale watching boat. 1 illegal fishing boat (recreational) A northern rough-winged swallow was spotted on the reserve today. Today a rental boat from Pedder Bay Marina entered the reserve around 1500h. The driver was moving the boat into kelp beds, where it would temporarily anchor in the seaweed. The men would fish until the boat was pushed out by the current and then would move to another kelp. I called PBM and they sent a boat to come inform them of the eco-reserve boundaries, and the Rockfish Conservation Area,  and reported the incident to DFO. The boat left around 1600h. They caught two fish and released one.

-Checked water level in the cistern.
-Chopped and stacked wood.
-Changed water in the eyewash station.
-Ran desalinator.

Gale

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Clear skies. Gale force West winds all day. Force 6-8
The barometer has been on a very slow rise from 1018 hPa all day. The gale warning continues for tomorrow.

4 tour boats
1 dive boat
3 halibut boats on the edge of the reserve

A recreational fishing boat was cleaning their catch (from somewhere else) North of Middle Rocks. They were tossing something (food of some sort) into the water a luring the seagulls over, and swinging at the gulls with a paddle. They didn’t hit any gulls, but I was pretty unimpressed. Sadly, as far as I know, there is nowhere to report people just being idiots on the water.

There is an amazing, thick blanket of fog extending from the Sooke basin, over the Sooke hills, and petering out towards William Head. Like someone smeared a thick layer of grey icing on the landscape. There is also a low layer of marine fog to the South of me, just in front of Washington. The freighters are slipping in and out of view as they move up and down the Juan de Fuca. I am very happy that the fog stayed away from Race Rocks all day.

-Finished tidying my house for Max’s 5 day shift. He’ll be out here starting tomorrow morning until the 12th. I will post his observations when I get back on station.