Transient & Resident orcas as well as Humpback whales brought eco-tour vessels from all over the Salish Sea to Race Rocks today. 41 vessels were counted as of 15:00. A maximum of 12 vessels were in the reserve at any one time. The manoeuvring and repositioning of 20+ vessels in Race Passage and surrounding the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve was enough at times to drown out the sea gulls and sea lions on Great Race.
The Vancouver-based Vancouver Whale Watching had two boats transit the reserve in pursuit of both orcas and humpbacks. A spokesperson for Vancouver Whale Watching indicated that their vessels do not pursue or chase the whales, they are there to watch them. The Explorathor Express and Explorathor II both entered the reserve from the W (watching whales from behind) as the orcas and humpbacks transited W to E through the N and S ends of the reserve.
The Peregrine, a Washington-based ecotour vessel followed the pattern of the previous two boats.
I am happy to report that local eco-tours showed respect for the Ecological Reserve and did not enter the waters surrounding Race Rocks when the whales were present.
The FastCat vessel however did not wait until it was 400 yards away from Great Race before exceeding 7 knots as it exited the reserve to watch whales as they moved East. There were 41 visitors to the island today.
Category Archives: Admin
Osprey and problem boaters
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.
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
Divers prepare for turbine removal
Divers attached buoys to the 4 anchor blocks this morning as the tidal turbine removal gears up. There were 8 visitors to the island today.
Tidal Current Energy Project at Race Rocks 2006-2011
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
BC Parks Use Permit for the tidal energy project..2004
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
U
nderwater 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
Presentation 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
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
Boats in reserve today
I counted 65 boats in the reserve today, just under half were visits by eco-tours. Recreational boaters did not cause any disturbances and all but 5 kept to the 7 knot speed limit for the reserve. One recreational fisher poached in the reserve off North Race before leaving to fish in Pedder Bay.
Sea lions and boaters
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
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.
vessel traffic and Orcas
Human Interaction
At 1422hrs PDT a vessel was spotted passing over Rosedale Reef E to W at high speed.
A pod of orcas was observed passing through Race Passage W to E this afternoon.
Assisting boaters
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.