Race Rocks Ecological Reserve: An Unusual Model of Reserve Management

The following article is also printed complete with hyperlinks to relevant parts of the Race Rocks website at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/news/2004/racerocksfer.htm.

On October 3 a group of 20 of the Friends of Ecological Reserves made a trip to Race Rocks in the Pearson College Boats with  Garry Fletcher  and Chris Blondeau, who is the  Pearson College Sea-front Coordinator and Operations Manager of Race Rocks.  This fall has been remarkable in the consistently high population of  Northern and California Sea Lions and  high populations of seagulls and Cormorants on the islands, so it was a good time for the visit after the nesting season.

As a result of questions from members on the trip, I thought it may be useful to update everyone who is interested in the events on the reserve with the present state of the management and financing of Race Rocks.  Lester Pearson College assumed the full management of the facilities and staff at Race Rocks in the fall of 1997 . The light and foghorn had been automated, and the Canadian CoastGuard was retiring the lightkeepers, Mike and Carol Slater.  All the facilities except the light tower and foghorn  were returned to BC  Lands.  An agreement was reached whereby the  island  was leased for long term management and continued use for education and research by  Lester Pearson College .  In  2001,  BC Parks was able to expand the Ecological reserve, which had previously omitted the large island with the facilities, to include all the remaining land area of Great Race Island in addition to the original 256 hectares of Islands and water to the 36 meter depth.

The Slaters were hired by Lester Pearson College to stay on as Ecological Reserve Guardians, providing security and  keeping the diesel generator running, thus ensuring that the college could have full use of the other buildings and facilities on the island. In addition, the daily collection of air and sea temperature and salinity data  was continued, maintaining a valuable long term data base. Operating Costs for the first year were met by an anonymous donor from Ontario. Each year after a special effort has been made by the college to secure the operating funds to carry through to keep the island open.   By the year 2000, a proposal was made to the Millennium Partners Fund of Canada, to help fund the installation of internet facilities and microwave to provide a link to the College for the transmission of Broadband  internet.  A number of partners and sponsors who continue to assist are referenced on the website. Each year since, the college has had to seek funding from a number of sources to keep the island going, since government funding for parks is very hard to come by.

One of the higher costs incurred in the operation is the diesel fuel to run the island’s generators. Last year over $20,000  went into this, so it has been an aim for some time to incorporate alternate energy technology in the operation. It is with great relief that I can now tell you that our efforts are paying off as we now have a company, Clean Current Power Inc. securing  the complete funding and installing at Race Rocks in the next year, an underwater tidal current generator which will have negligible negative environmental impacts.  Although a research prototype, this should generate all the required electrical needs for the island. The diesel generators will become backup utilities.

BC Parks has made a good effort to help with some of the facility costs on the island. Keep in mind that most Ecological Reserves do not have dwellings and facilities such as docks and workshops, so they have provided the funds to mitigate the effects of human sewage from the two houses, with the installation of Composting Toilets in 2003.  The Coast guard, although having no direct financial commitment, has provided technical assistance when necessary.  in 2000 an Advisory Board was set up by DFO for the formation of an Official  Marine Protected Area  under the Oceans Act. The Ecological Reserve is still a Marine Protected Area Designate, since final treaty negotiations have put a hold on complete Marine Protected Area Status. This has meant that no federal funds are available for maintaining the Protected Area.

It is a big job securing at least  $80,000 a year to keep the island operational. What is really needed is an endowment,  and this we are determined to seek over the next few years.  Keeping observers and cameras on the island has in the last few years served to keep the many users of the area accountable, so that  the ecological integrity of the resource may be sustained. On the home page of racerocks.com  is written : “we humans are never content just to know that a special area exists on this earth. We strive to be there, to touch, to feel, to consume . But therein lies the paradox. In so doing we can destroy the very thing we love.” The aim of the racerocks.com program has always been to make this special ecosystem available to all through the internet.  We have been fortunate to have this opportunity to establish a window into the daily lives of the creatures of a rugged marine island ecosystem. We just hope that we can continue to make the amazing life of these islands available to all.  This spring with the further assistance of Apple Computer, we upgraded our computers and added a new 340 degree robotic camera which provides a much more thorough survey of many parts of the islands from your own computer.

We are grateful for any assistance in the funding of the program at Race Rocks. One can pay by cheque or credit card to The Race Rocks Operating Fund c/o Lester B. Pearson College,  650 Pearson College Drive.  (250) 391-2411. A tax receipt will be provided for amounts over $25.00.

Garry Fletcher, the volunteer warden for Race Rocks Ecological Reserve is the Educational Director of racerocks.ca . He has recently retired after teaching for 36 years.  The last  28 of those years have been spent in Biology, Environmental Systems and the SCUBA diving program at Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific.  Garry now continues with his work on https://racerocks.ca  and serves as a consultant from his home in Metchosin.

A school visit by Journey middle school students

The Johan Ashuvud Project June 2004
On 1st June 2004, during the Johan Ashuvud project, we had Dr Gitai Yahel and Russel Wyeth explain to the students and faculty from Journey Middle School in Sooke their research at Race Rocks . This was during a live webcast by Emmanuel (PC 30) from Ghana and Paul (PC 30) from Nigeria. Later we showed the students various living organisms in the tank room and gave the students a tour of the island.

In Situ Measurement of Benthic Community Trophic Dynamics at Race Rocks

Research of GITAI YAHEL

In March, 2004, Dr.Gitai Yahel, a Post Doctorate researcher from the Biology Department at the University of Victoria, joined us for two dives at Race Rocks to check out the possibility of doing research there. He is interested in suspension feeders’ nutritional ecology and the role of dissolved substance as a food source for marine organisms. Currently he is trying to establish a field survey of the dissolved and picoplanktonic diet composition of active suspension feeders such as sponge, mussels and tunicates.

Sponges, bivalves and tunicates play an important role in the trophic dynamics of many benthic communities. However, direct in situ measurements of their diet composition, filtration and excretion rates are lacking. Our knowledge of these rates is based mostly on indirect, in vitro measurements. Recently we have developed an in situ, non-intrusive technique to directly measure the rate and efficiency by which an active suspension feeder removes (or discharges) substances from (to) the water it filters. The technique, termed “InEx”, is based on the simultaneous, pair-wise collection of the water Inhaled and Exhaled by the animal. The difference in the concentrations of a substance among a pair of samples provides a measure of the retention (or excretion) of the substance by the animal. Calculations of feeding (or excretion) rates are obtained by multiplying the concentration difference by pumping rate. The latter is concurrently measured by recording the movement of a dye front in a transparent tube positioned within the ex-current jet. An important quality of the InEx technique is the lack of any manipulation of the studied organisms thus allowing realistic estimates of the organism’s performance under natural conditions. Former work in tropical water had revealed novel aspects of suspension feeders’ nutritional ecology including the major role dissolved organic substances play in the diet of some reef sponges (Yahel et al. 2003, Limnology and Oceanography, 48, 141).
For the proposed work at Race Rocks we can foresee two phases:

I. Identifying target suspension feeding taxa
We will execute a field survey of common suspension feeders at Race Rocks. Targets groups include bivalves, ascidians, and sponges. SCUBA divers will sample the water inhaled and exhaled by the surveyed organisms to compare concentration changes of CDOM, DOC, bacteria, phytoplankton, other organic particles, plant nutrients, silica, and sediment grains. Sampling methods will include an Inherent Optical Properties sensor (IOP, providing both CDOM spectra, concentration and optical characterization of the particulate field), Laser In Situ Scattering instrument (LISST, providing measurements of particles concentration and size distribution), and discrete water samples (InEx). The discrete water samples will be analyzed using a high temperature total carbon analyzer, flow injection nutrient analyzer, and a flow cytometer. This sampling scheme will provide ‘snapshot’ information on the performance of individual organisms.

II. Continuous monitoring of individual ‘model’ organisms.
Longer term (hours to days) monitoring of organisms will provide a record of feeding and metabolic performance with respect to environmental parameters (e.g., current, light, ambient particles concentration, etc.). Our knowledge of such processes in the field is limited. Nevertheless, the few existing studies suggest that suspension feeder activity may undergo considerable diel shifts. Moreover, environmental variables such as food and sediment concentration are known to affect suspension feeder filtration rates. Multi-day instrumentation of individual suspension feeders will provide a continuous record of the material fluxes mediated by the animals. Two 16 MHz ADVs’ (Acoustical Doppler Velocimeters) will provide high frequency (~2 Hz) current and acoustical backscatter data. One ADV will sample the exhalant jet of the study animal while the other will sample the inhalant (ambient) water. Similarly, paired measurements of optical water properties will be obtained by slowly pumping small amounts waters through a 4 sensor array mounted on a nearby frame. The instrument array will include: LISST-100, IOP sensors (WetLabs ac-9, and Eco-VSF,) CTD, and a Seabird oxygen sensor. The latter will allow us to estimate respiration rate and to correlate it to measured material fluxes mediated by the studied organisms. An online video camera equipped with an infra-red light source will be used to monitor the immediate vicinity of the exhalant aperture to allow better interpretation of behavior related signals (e.g. the presence of predators or sediment resuspension events).

Target organisms will be carefully selected based on the results of the survey in phase I. A priori, plausible candidates for these experiments are sponges and large bivalves (e.g. Mytilus californicus). These animals possess a large ex-current aperture that allows easy instrumentation and previous studies suggest that they may be capable of removing large quantities of DOC from the water.

Note that the proposed work in absolutely non destructive and the studied animals will not be manipulated by any means.

 

SEE ALSO https://www.racerocks.ca/journey-middle-school-students-visit-race-rocks/
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Tide Pool Abiotic factors

In the high intertidal areas of Race Rocks, there are tidepools with wide fluctuations of abiotic factors. The organisms inhabiting these pools are well adapted to these extremes. Garry talks to a biology class about some of the variables influencing these high tide pools, and the flagellated green algae living within them.

Students end project week

Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.1 ºC »» Min. 7.3 ºC »» Reset 8.5 ºC »» Rain 1.9 mm
MARINE LIFE:Still seeing fish balls but they are small and not as frequent as in the past weeks. Daily visitors are the usual gulls, Starlings,Crows,Black Turnstones, Surf Birds, Cormorants,Sparrows, Harlequin Ducks,a group of about 30 Black Oyster Catchers and the geese-usually 6 but every couple of days the 7th joins the group for at least part of the day. The Sealion population is still fairly low for this time of year as many of them have left the area since the last series of blasting on Bentinck Island.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Chris in with 2nd Nature to return Rosie, Ahmad and Jeremias to Campus. Garry out in 2nd Nature with guests also 4 Ecotour boats and 2 pleasurecraft through today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:19 PM
Good morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast »» Vis. 10 Miles »» Wind North 11 Knots »» Sea Choppy
Goodbye RR, thanks for our marvellous project week.posted by Race Rocks Relief at 7:48 AM
Good Evening
Temperature: Max. 9.1 ºC »» Min. 7.1 ºC »» Reset 8.0 ºC
Rainfall: 9.0mm

Our last evening on the island has arrived, we’ll spend it editing
the rest of our projects.
posted by Race Rocks Relief at 7:47 AM

Today was another day of blasting.

Good Evening
Temperature: Max. 9.1 ºC »» Min. 7.8 ºC »» Reset 8.0 ºC
Rainfall: 3.6mm
Today was another day of blasting. The first blast occurred at around 9.30 am and sent all the animals stampeding off their respective islets. We finished two of our video projects today, which only leaves one to complete. We had a visit from some scientists who were studying the impact of the blasts. We conducted an interview which should hopefully be available with the rest of the footage on this website.http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archives/vidlionblasts.htm
posted by Race Rocks Relief at 6:13 PM

Good morning

WEATHER: Sky Overcast »» Vis. 5 Miles »» Wind North-East 7 Knots »» Sea Choppy/Rough
The storm has not yet materialised, but the blasting continues. Today the blasting is louder, and the seals and sea lions have already deserted their islet. Today there are some scientists visiting the island to study these effects. ( LGL)  If you want to see the blasting, you can track it on the remote control camera at racerocks.com.
Yesterday’s rainfall was 4mm. We are expecting more today.
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.1 ºC »» Min. 7.8 ºC »» Reset 8.0 ºC
posted by Race Rocks Relief at 10:38 AM