Category Archives: Infractions

Sea lion juvenile

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As Ecological Reserve Warden,  I was concerned with the report of continued blasting by the DND given the recent noting of a nursing northern sea lion at Race Rocks. The following is an account of the concern, starting with an e-mail and pictures from the Ecoguardian, Ryan Murphy

Subject “New Development”
Sept 27,2011

“I’m not sure if the LGL guys noticed this or not… but we have a nursing Steller sea lion pup on Great Race.  You’ll see in the photos that the mother is definitely lactating and the pup is nursing on the rock above the jetty (West side).  Since Eumetopias jubatus is listed under SARA as Special Concern, I believe this is very significant.  DND’s activity at Bentinck Island has not included intervals between blasts to reduce sea lion stampedes, and this pup is definitely at risk of trampling if DND continues their activities as they have for the past 2 days.-
Subject: continued blasting
Date:   September 28, 2011 8:30:18 AM PDT

“No need to worry about DND blasting, the landing of LGL personnel and subsequent standing around at the jetty caused a mass stampede with about 50 animals taking to the water including the pup.”

Subject Update
Date:   September 28, 2011 9:26:18 AM PDT
“Just so you know, the larger blasts are still coming back to back.  I don’t know if LGL communicated the need for increased intervals, but regardless there is no change.  The sea lions continued to be disturbed and take to the water with the rapid succession blasts.”

Subject: update
Date:   September 28, 2011 4:57:03 PM PDT
“The pup has been back since at least 14:30.  I have not seen its mother and it is sporting a fresh 2″ cut on its shoulder.  Otherwise looks to be ok, it has been sitting upright trying to stay awake and nodding off as babies will.”
Subject:    Re: New development
Date:   September 29, 2011 7:04:02 AM PDT

“The pup is still here this morning, the mother is not with it.”

Subject: DND report
Date:   September 29, 2011 9:21:24 AM PDT

“As per the log at 9:21 this morning:
Two absolutely massive explosions that shook the house occurred only 10 seconds apart.  The glass panes in the windows rattled against their metallic frames.  At least 70 sea lions stampeded into the water, completely clearing out entire haul out areas.  About 20 sea lions stampeded through the area where the Steller pup was resting.”

As a result of this account of events, I sent an e-mail to BC Parks and DND administration stating the following:

From: Garry Fletcher
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 10:20 AM
Subject: Fwd: New development

I was very concerned to receive the following  reports and images  from Ryan Murphy our Guardian at  Race Rocks. I think it warrants a followup considering the concerns we have for marine mammals being disturbed by human activities, especially those which are SARA listed.
Surely they have enough data by now to show that the window for doing this blasting program might perhaps be reconsidered.  We would appreciate hearing of any followup .

FOLLOWUP:  So far ( November, 2011) there has been none. The juvenile and mother were not seen again, research by LGL  (LGL who are referred to are the DND contracted research group who is at the island again this year to make observations on the effects of detonations at Bentinck Island.) The disturbance to animals by DND blasting continued unabated over the next few days.  Their previous reports up to 2010 are included here. The report for this year will be added here when it is available.

Transient and resident orcas and humpbacks!!

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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.

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)

 

 

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.

More boater problems

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Human Interaction
At 0845hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted speeding along the outside of the kelp bed east of Great Race.
At 0906hrs PDT a red vessel was spotted speeding out of the west side of the main channel.
At 0932hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with blue trim was spotted speeding out of the west side of the main channel.
At ~1000hrs PDT the eco-tour vessel Serengeti from Seafun Safaris was spotted speeding out of the Reserve around the kelp bed east of Great Race.
At ~1000hrs PDT a white vessel was spotted speeding into the Reserve from the east side of the main channel.
At 1016hrs PDT a blue aluminum vessel with ~3 POB was spotted speeding into the Reserve beside West Race. The vessel slowed once it actually entered the kelp bed near Middle Race. The vessel proceeded to transit the main passage W to E, then turn around and transit E to W before throttling up at the western edge of Great Race.

At 1025hrs PDT a white vessel was spotted speeding into Rosedale Reef via the edge of the kelp bed east of Great Race. The vessel approached less than 100 metres to the South Rocks before turning around and proceeding around the kelp bed to the main channel, eastern boundary. The vessel proceeded to the NE sea lion haul out and approached within 20 metres of sea lions on the jetty. Three persons were on board the vessel with license number BC1668350.
At 1040hrs PDT a white Bayliner with three persons on board proceeded to approach within 100 metres of sea lions hauled out on the jetty and on the NE rocks. The vessel license number was BC1668350. This incident was reported to DFO.
At 1130hrs PDT a white Bayliner with blue trim and four persons on board proceeded to approach within 100 metres of sea lions hauled out on the jetty and NE rocks. The vessel also made a point of circling and maneuvering unnecessarily in front of the jetty while sea lions were in the water. The vessel name was Sea Sprite and the license number is 2J 3444. This incident was reported to DFO.
At 1145hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with blue trim was spotted fishing around the east side of the kelp bed east of Great Race. The vessel continued to fish as it trolled towards Great Race, crossed the main channel and exited via the North-Middle Race channel. The vessel license number was BC1589784. Three persons on board. This incident was reported to DFO.
At 1215hrs PDT a small fibreglass vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve near North Race.

At 1327hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with a canvas canopy sped around and into the Reserve via the kelp bed east of Great Race.
At 1235hrs PDT a grey RHIB sped into the Middle-North Race channel while producing significant wake.
At 1343hrs PDT a fibreglass vessel was spotted speeding into the Reserve on the south side of Great Race. The vessel slowed eventually.
At 1347hrs PDT the aluminum vessel spotted at 1327hrs was found to be speeding out of the Reserve heading east.
At 1347hrs PDT a small fibreglass vessel with two persons on board was found to approaching closer than 100 metres to sea lions near the jetty. THis vessel sped westward out of the Reserve at 1352hrs PDT.
At 1416hrs PDT the grey RHIB previously found to be speeding into the Reserve was spotted speeding out towards the east.
At 1439hrs PDT Ocean Magic entered the Reserve at a speed greater than 7 knots producing a very large wake.
At 1440hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was found to be within 100 metres of sealions on the jetty.
At 1440hrs PDT a small white fibreglass vessel was found to be speeding into the Reserve from the east.
At 1442hrs PDT a white fibreglass vessel was found to be speeding out of the Reserve heading east.
At 1512hrs PDT a white fibreglass vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve heading eastbound.