Morning Wx: wind – N 7kts, sky – Ovrcst
Saturday evening when collecting the water sample, I noticed the familiar glow of Noctiluca scintillans, a type of dinoflagellate that when agitated by movement in the water, lights up; a process known as bioluminescence. A curious mammal approached me on the jetty when I realized it was a female elephant seal, which haven’t frequented the island for a number of weeks now. The female didn’t come onto the main island until the following afternoon, and I suspect she is the same one that came most recently about a month ago in early July. She has returned to her usual hangout spot next to the hose box.
Juvenile female elephant seal
Illegal fishing on the reserve is hard to moderate although remains an important role of the reserve. Today I came across two Glaucous-winged gull chicks picking at what seemed to be a worm, but turned out to be fishing tackle some adult gull had probably returned with from the kelp beds.
Fisher in a kelp bed near West Race Rocks
These unexpected fisherman, above, claimed ignorance when I approached them about fishing poles in the water.
Sea lions at sunset
California sea lions have joined the Stellars on the southern rock.
This position has now been filled:
Victoria July 15/13
UWC Pearson College currently has an exciting, interesting and unconventional position to fill as part of its environmental stewardship and educational programming at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.
If you:
Then this may be just the job for you. Continue reading
This past week, we delivered over 4000L of diesel to the island. Even though Race Rocks tries to source its energy from more sustainable practices like our solar panels, often they’re not sufficient to completely power the island. During the dark cloudy days we see so often in winter we rely on our diesel powered generator. Erik Shauff collects thousands of litres of diesel per load in a large metal container from Pedder Bay Marina and delivers it to the reserve by boat. Then we use an electric pump and hose system to transfer the diesel across the island into its holding tank. Pictured above is Misery supervising the process. Erik surveys the yellow diesel tank in the background.
We also had a whale sighting in the past week. A pod of orcas (with at least one calf) passed through the south side of the reserve on Friday. As always, orcas attract alot of boat traffic. I noticed a cluster of whale watching vessels before the orcas. When the pod moved towards the reserve the whale watchers didn’t follow but instead kept their distance and motored ahead to the next point they calculated the pod to be.
Orcas and boaters on the south side of the island
One private boat-owner, however, chased the whales right through the reserve.
Caught on Underwater Camera 2 by Adam Harding
On one of the trips for diesel, Erik also brought his dive gear to clean the Underwater Camera 2.
Link to an article in the FoER Newsletter by Aziza Cooper on the Race Rocks Field Trip of Friends of Ecological reserves, May 12, 2013. http://ecoreserves.bc.ca/?p=17947
Ken Dunham, a graduate of Pearson College UWC, now enrolled in a Law program at the University of Ottawa has submitted the following as a class assignment in Natural Resources Law, CML 1105H for Professor Stewart Elgie.
See the complete paper in this PDF: Race Rocks Legal Analysis-1
Introduction
Canada is a country of incredible natural beauty and ecological diversity, a significant portion of which has been protected under a system of national and provincial parks and other reserves. One might think that it would be a straightforward matter to similarly protect another unique ecological zone. Especially if it was small, located in a relatively remote location, and there was no suggestion that it should be used for anything else.
This paper explores why this is not so simple in the context of inshore marine areas. Canada’s constitutional / legal framework creates several gaps and overlaps with respect to the environment. The broader issue is not with any particular piece of legislation, but rather the sometimes-narrow context in which each was devised. This is further complicated by how the various statutory pieces fit together (or not) under the division of powers outlined in Canada’s constitution.
These issues can frustrate even the most straightforward project that attempts to carve out a little bit of nature for the benefit of future generations, as exemplified by Race Rocks.
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Conclusion
From a legal and constitutional perspective, the most comprehensive protection for Race Rocks would involve the Province of British Columbia transferring the islets and neighboring seabed to the federal government, followed by designation of Race Rocks as a Marine Conservation area under the CNMCAA.93 This would place stewardship of Race Rocks under one government and one minister.
The alternate approaches all involve significant legislative, constitutional, and ministerial gaps that leave major eco-systems at Race Rocks without complete protection.
An outright fishing ban within the boundaries of the Race Rocks reserve would greatly simplify enforcement and prosecution.
Regardless of the approach taken, continued involvement of the local First Nations is essential, given their Douglas Treaty fishing rights and various Aboriginal claims currently being negotiated. The First Nations perspective is that they should be one of three governments sharing decision-making authority as equals, and not merely labelled as just another stakeholder to be “consulted” (i.e. possibly ignored).
See the complete paper in this PDF: Race Rocks Legal Analysis-1
Mike left last week and I will be taking over for the next two months. My last shift was a year ago and it’s great to see how well Mike and Alex have taken care of the place.
Over the past number of days, Misery and Chunk have been pretty subdued with the exception of Thursday when both headed into the water and had a 6-hour long feud. There are no females on the island so my assumption is that Chunk is testing Misery’s role as alpha-male (which he’s proven to be in check).
The two contenders: Misery and Chunk
Sea lion near the jetty during sunset
The first sea lion of the summer has been hanging around on the main island and the southern rock.
Oystercatcher with 3 chicks
Another first of the season are the newly hatched oystercatchers, pictured right. This nest is on the north side of the island and there is another on the south side that still has its 3 eggs intact.
For boat traffic, there averages 10-20 vessels per day in the reserve (weather depending). In the photo below, the gathered whale-watching boats to the west of Race Rocks implies a whale-sighting although it was too far for any good views from the island itself.
Whale watching vessels to the west of the island
Another note on boat traffic, this morning four curious boaters from Pedder Bay Marina wanted to explore the island unaware it’s not for public use. I explained the rules of the reserve and sent the apologetic boaters on their way. Pam Birley took some snapshots on Camera 1.
The different horizontal header images that appear on this website and the log with the title “Race Rocks Ecological Reserve”, were made from images taken at Race Rocks and contributed over the past few years by the Ecoguardians of Race Rocks. A big thanks and acknowledgement to Ryan Murphy, Raisa Mirza, Adam Harding, Alex Fletcher, Julie Bowser and most recently many by Mike Robinson.
Typical June day in BC
It always surprises me how long it takes for “summer” weather to arrive in BC. Today it is overcast, blowing 30 with driving rain, and 11 degrees (which feels like 7 with the wind chill). For Race Rocks weather records see this link.
A very buoyant Harbour Seal
3 male elephant seals and I are the only mammals on Great Race Island but this big female Harbour Seal calmly shared a lovely sunset with me at the sea side…
Yoga E-seal
On a nice afternoon a few days ago Chunk was showing his flexibility by doing backbends and chewing on his hind-flippers.
Seal Salutation
Yesterday I spotted 2 Bald Eagles raiding gull nests. I had never seen this before.
Wary Allies
And finally this interesting shot! Nesting Gull and Tower.
Wednesday June 5/13
Day two: Fog and moderate winds early in the morning. A good part of the morning was spent cleaning the Solar panels on the roof of the Energy building of all the accumulated bird guano. I took note of the power output pre-cleaning : 650W; it jumped to 980W after being cleaned.
One pleasure boat in the Reserve this morning 0945hrs
We were visited by BC Parks’ new Area Supervisor to familiarise herself with the site and the Race Rocks File; and to meet the crew.