Category Archives: Admin

Osprey and problem boaters

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A lone osprey visited the reserve today and was photographed from the lighthouse flying SE across Great Race.

While counting marine mammals from the lighthouse I noticed the sea gulls take flight similar to a bald eagle response.  I then saw this osprey flying SE over Great Race about level with the top of the tower.  The next day I observed a pair of ospreys hunting in the shallows W of Pedder Bay Marina.

 

A distinctly different type of person on the water today. As of 13:30 there have been 4 Bayliner-type vessels speed through the reserve. A recreational fishing vessel serial 14K36817 has been illegally fishing the RCA for over an hour now. When hailed on VHF68 an anonymous station twice responded with profanities after which radio communications were obstructed by loud music playing over an open mic. Earlier today a call was put into Pedder Bay Marina to stop their vessels fishing and pulling kelp.

There were 200 visitors to the island today. ( Posted by Ryan)

 

 

Tidal Current Energy Experiment Comes to an End.

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September 17, 2011: Clean Current Staff and diving contractors return to Race Rocks to remove the generator for the last time. The generator returns to Vancouver for a final analysis of structural details after exposure in the ocean over the last three years . After cleaning,  it is to be sent to the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, since it was the first ocean tidal generator to be built and deployed in Canada.

“In conclusion: The Tidal Current Generator operation over the past six years has been an interesting experiment and a good demonstration of the potential power from tidal energy.  The added value to the availability of energy for Race Rocks  was however very disappointing.

The main value to the Race Rocks program has been in the infrastructure that has been developed and installed and the potential for further research. The provision now of most of the energy needs by solar power was only made possible by the large bank of storage batteries provided by the project, the island energy building electrical infrastructure and the partnership with the BC Ministry of Mines and energy which were instrumental in providing the initial solar panels.  Installation of further solar panels and upgrades by Lester Pearson College UWC has helped to ensure energy sustainability for Race Rocks.

–Garry Fletcher

 

Tidal Current Energy Project at Race Rocks 2006-2011

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Background of the Integrated Energy Project for Race Rocks:

Starting in 1997, Lester B. Pearson College had to raise the funds to keep the diesel generators working to supply electricity to the island. The cost of doing this was originally $11,000 per year and within 4 years reached $20,000. The lighthouse light and foghorn had been made energy self- sufficient with 8 solar panels and a battery array installed by the Coast Guard by 1997. By 1998 we were proposing to develop support for alternate energy technologies to make the rest of the island energy-self sufficient and in so doing, create a curriculum resource on alternate energy for science courses at Lester Pearson College and elsewhere.

The Tidal Current Energy Project which was part of the Integrated Energy Transition at Race Rocks operated from 2006 to 2011. It was essentially a big experiment, and was one that showed the difficulties encountered in working with Tidal Energy installations, while providing the leverage to help Race Rocks transition from fossil fuels to environmentally sustainable forms of energy in operation of a remote educational facility.

This archive provides a chronological account of the process we at Lester Pearson College undertook in this endeavour.

 

History and Background Information on the Alternate Energy Project at Race Rocks.

 

 

Along with the Tidal energy part of the project , there was also the Solar energy component. It is profiled here: The Solar Energy Component of the Integrated Energy project

 

 

 

Traditional Energy Generation
By Diesel Oil at Race Rocks .Environmental Impacts of the Existing Diesel Powered Generator

 

 

Environmental protection of the Ecological Reserve with the Installation of the Tidal current Generator at Race Rocks..2004

 

BC Parks Use Permit for the tidal energy project..2004

 

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ENCANA Partners to enable Pearson College- ENCANA – Clean Current Tidal Power Demonstration Project at Race Rocks Feb 25, 2005

 

Preliminary Environmental Screening for building of Battery Storage facility May 2005

 

 

 

BC Parks Preliminary Assessment for Cable entry and crossing of the island May 2005

 

 

 

Underwater testing of structural materials to be used for the turbine

 

 

 

Deployment and retrieval of the ADCP instrument for Current measurement 2005

 

 

 

BC Parks Impact Assessment Process for Piling Location , Nov2 2005

Nov 2 2005

 

 

Video of Invertebrates on the substrate at Tidal Current Energy site March 2006

 

 

 

Dredging the overburden for the tidal energy installation.

 

 

 

Installation of the Anchors for Drilling for the Tidal Current Energy Project

 

 

Drilling for the Piling Installation

 

 

Drilling Problems encountered in installation of the tidal current energy Piling

 

 

Installation of bottom part of the piling

 

 

 

Installation of upper part of the piling

 

 

 

 

Laying of the cable to shore Aug.20-22, 2006

 

 

 

Testing of the Turbine in Pedder Bay

 

 

 

 

Installation of the turbine Sept. 27, 2006

 

 

 

Installation of the turbine control unit Sept 2006

 

 

 

 

PM Stephen Harper visits Race Rocks for an “ecoenergy announcement” Jan 19, 2007

 

 

Video on the Pearson College, EnCana, Clean Current Tidal Power Demonstration Project at Race Rocks

 

 

 

tidalturbinrPresentation at the European Commission Coordinated Action on Ocean Energy (CA-OE)Workshop on Environmental, Economics, Development Policy, and Promotion of Opportunities, Copenhagen, Denmark 26-27 April 2007

 

6 months of growth on the Tidal Current turbine April 2007

 

 

 

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Connor Scheu and Wouter Zwart April 2, 2009 the outputs of energy from the system.

 

 

 

April, 2007.The tidal energy turbine is raised to change the bearings which had been deteriorating faster than expected.

 

 

Redeployment of the Tidal Energy Turbine  October 2008

 

 

Underwater materials performance testing/fouling 2008

 

 

 

END of Tidal Energy project and removal of Turbine

Sea lions and boaters

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California Sea Lion: 164(front lawn @ dawn)
 Northern Sea Lion: 27(front lawn @ dawn)
The weekend was not as busy as I had expected, however there were hundreds of people here from sunrise to sunset. The general public has shown increased knowledge or respect for the reserve guidelines and the majority of the traffic was sight-seers. I am pleased to report there were 0 marine mammal disturbances yesterday. However, rental boats with weekend-warrior fishermen continue to threaten the Race Rocks ecosystem. Pedder Bay Marina continues to respond to reports from the Eco-Guardian concerning illegal fishing by their customers. There were 6 boats poaching in the reserve yesterday, half belonging to Pedder Bay Marina. There were 0 visitors to the island today.

Orca feeding on south side Great Race

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Elephant Seal: A female elephant hauled up on Great Race yesterday afternoon. Haven’t had a chance to get an ID on it. Looks too small to be Bertha.
Orca: T31 was found to be feeding around the SW side of Great Race and over Rosedale in a strong ebb.
Human Interaction:
An OBMG vessel was spotted transiting the main passage at very high speed ~1245hrs. The vessel also approached too close to sea lions on the Rocks.
A fishing vessel entered the Reserve at high speed this afternoon.

Assisting boaters

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At ~1000hrs PDT the vessel “Rogue” was spotted speeding out of the Reserve and maneuvering unnecessarily.
At ~1014hrs PDT a Prince of Whales vessel was spotted throttling up and speeding out of the Reserve.
A small runabout with three POB (people On Board) pulled up to the island this afternoon, out of gas and with battery issues. The ecoguardian sold some gas to the men and helped them to recharge their battery before they headed off towards Becher Bay.

There were 2 visitors to the island today.