Category Archives: Island Visitors

Blue Heron spent several hours fishing

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.9 ºC »» Min. 5.0 ºC »» Reset 7.7 ºC
MARINE LIFE: Still seeing numerous fish balls mostly in the tidelines outside the MPA boundries but the number of sea birds is down considerably from last week. There were 5 Harlequins in the little bay on the east side of Gr. Race also one Blue Heron spent several hours fishing in the eastern kelp bed then just before sunset flew off toward Bentinck Island. There are 5 California Sealions hauled out along the north shore of Gr. Race that have fresh looking wounds, mostly in the hind flipper area, my guess, evidence of encounters with the transient Orcas that have been in the area quite often lately. There are still about 600 Cormorants in the area, another indication that the food supply is still good.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Second Nature in with Angus, Scott over to work on the the cameras and computers. Station boat out to return Scott to campus and to Pedder Bay. There were 5 Ecotour boats, 1 pleasurecraft through today.posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:05 PM

Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind North East 21 Knots »» Sea 3 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:25 AM

Sea lion population still down

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.5 ºC »» Min. 4.9 ºC »» Reset 7.9 ºC
MARINE LIFE: The population of Sealions is still down since the last series of blasts so it is fairly quiet,the animals hauled out by the winch house are quite nervous of any activity on or near the dock. With another series of blasts in the coming weeks they may just move away altogether. Saw only 5 small fish balls today and not many birds feeding, seem to have followed the food elsewhere for now. The geese were back, at least 6 of them.
HUMAN INTERACTION: The LGL observers arrived first thing this morning and left at 16:30 and as careful as they were the sealions closest to the dock took to the water.There were 8 Ecotour boats through today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:08 PM

Orcas

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 13.1 ºC »» Min. 6.5 ºC »» Reset 10.7 ºC
MARINE LIFE :Orcas sighted about 14:00 to the northeast of Gr. Race, could be the same group seen yesterday morning along the south shore.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 13 tour boats and 4 pleasurecraft through today. Second Nature in at about 14:00 to pick up students who spent the weekend. Hyaku and Second Nature in with group from CISTA .Yesterday there were 9 tour boats and one dive charter off West Race.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:04 PM

DND Blasting

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TEMPERATURE: Max. 13.7 ºC »» Min. 10.1 ºC »» Reset 10.3 ºC »» Rain 0.2 mm.-2002-10-07′, ’23:42:00′, ‘First day since the sealions have returned this fall that the DND has conducted Demolition exercises at Bentinck island video archive at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archives/viddndblast.htm‘,

MARINE LIFE: With the blasting on Bentinck the sea lions were unsettled, ‘barking and growling’ well into the afternoon. At each blast the birds all took flight but returned fairly quickly. There is a juvenile Heermann’s gull with a broken wing, one California S.L. with a 16 cm scar near the right shoulder which looks fairly well healed. A Blue Heron spent some time sitting in the various kelp beds around Gr. Race, it was most likely here for the fish,as there is still a good supply of feed judging by the numbers of gulls and cormorants feeding. The seals and sea lions are catching some good sized salmon as well.

HUMAN INTERACTION: The LGL monitoring crew docked first thing in the morning, Garry over in Hyaku for most of the afternoon filming. There were 7 Pleasurecraft and 6 Ecotour boats through the reserve today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:07 PM

Tidal fishing rules

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Good Evening

TEMPERATURE: Max.14.8 ºC »» Min. 8.7 ºC »» Reset 12.1 ºC »» Rain 0.4 mm

HUMAN INTERACTION: 1 Ecotour boat, 3 pleasure craft and Hyaku ( Garry with student and guest ) in the reserve today. At 11:40 noticed a rental boat with 2 persons, in the kelp bed at the east tip of North Rocks jigging, called the Marina and they sent out a staff member to advise of the No Take rules-although the Gov. issued rules on tidal fishing in the MPA are readily available some people are still choosing to ignore them.

posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:19 PM

Visitors

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Good evening! It was a very quiet day here at Race Rocks. No ecotour boats came in the reserve. Only one dive charter (Ogden Point) came into the reserve for two different dives. There were four visitors from Pearson College… we gave them a tour of the facility and information on the history and geography of Race Rocks. The weather was clear until the late afternoon when there were a few drops of precipitation. Interestingly, there were dark clouds hanging with what looked like heavy rain over Port Angeles while Victoria was sunny with a few clouds. Wind was west 10 – 12 knots. The seas were rippled. Chris, Jane and Morgan were out.

a small group of Orca passed through

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Tuesday, August 20, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 16.0 C  Min. 10.3 C  Reset 12.7 C
MARINE LIFE: There is plenty of fish around but many of the sealions have left and wonder if the high level of boat traffic is having an impact.Between noon and 13:00 a small group of Orca passed through between Gr. Race and North Rks. heading west.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 36 Ecotour boats through today also Second Nature in for two dives off the dock and one dive late afternoon at West Race.The station boat to Pedder Bay and back.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:14 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind West 21 Knots  Sea 3 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:34 AM

Coast Guard chopper landed :young were scattered about and subsequently attacked

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Thursday, August 15, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 16.0 C Min. 9.9 C  Reset 11.0 C
MARINE LIFE: A few more sea lions arrived during the night, total count approx. 70 California and 11 Northern. The Californian branded # 62 spent most of the day hauled out on the end of the dock, a bit of a loner. At 09:20 a Coast Guard chopper landed on the grass next to the south side of the tower, the adult gulls flew off but the young were scattered about and subsequently attacked by some adults. A call to Coast Guard has remedied the problem- in future we will give them a reminder heads-up at the start and end of nesting season. Thank you Marc and Phil.The 7 geese made a short- about 1 hour – visit just after 6 this morning.
HUMAN INTERACTION:There were 24 Ecotour boats, 3 pleasure craft and 2 Zodiac Military Police boats through the reserve today. Unfortuately the 2 military and 1 ecotour boat the ‘Tsunami’ breached the ‘no wake’ policy, passed this info on to D.F.O.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:45 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear  Vis. 10 Miles Wind Calm Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:01 AM

 

the sea lion shakes the fish back and forth at the water surface and the gulls rush over to pick up any bits that break awa

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Saturday, August 10, 2002

Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 19.0 C  Min. 9.9 C  Reset 11.5 C
MARINE LIFE: Middle rock is the favoured haul out spot for the 20 or so California sea lions now in the reserve, the fishing is good and have seen several good sized salmon caught. There is great activity as the sea lion shakes the fish back and forth at the water surface and the gulls rush over to pick up any bits that break away.Many of the gull chicks are able to fly but are still not following the adults out to sea to feed, they peck persistently at the adult’s bill hoping for food and do eventually get some but the push is on for them to learn how to feed themselves.There are fewer Pigeon Guillemots coming ashore everyday now and the Black Oyster Catchers are away for long periods of time.
HUMAN INTERACTION:There were 25 Ecotour boats, 1 pleasure craft and the Marine Mammal Monitor boat in the reserve today. The station boat made a return trip to Pedder Bay and a trip to the Campus in the afternoon to return Ryan back to civilization – Thank you Ryan!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:31 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Partial Clouds  Vis. 10 Miles – North East To South 5 Miles Fog  Wind West 16 Knots  Sea 1 Foot Chop
posted by Ryan Murphy at 5:33 AM

The purpose for his visit was to sample the hydrocoral Allopora

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Sunday, July 28, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 16.0 C  Min. 10.9  Reset 14.3 C
MARINE LIFE: 6 harbour seals haul out with pups at the boat ramp. Canadian geese still around.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 1 dive charter in the morning. Second Nature was out with Garry , Dr. Anita Voss and Alberto. Alberto is from Brazil and is currently doing a doctorate at Duke University. His area of expertise is DNA profiling and Taxonomy of inverterbrates . The purpose for his visit was to sample the hydrocoral Allopora. There are two color varieties of this species out here and he will be attempting through DNA analysis to establish if they are separate species. ( turns out they are not)
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:57 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 10 Miles Wind West 33 Knots  Sea 3 – 4 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:43 AM
Wednesday, July 31, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 18.5 �C �� Min. 10.1 �C �� Reset 18.5 �C
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:23 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear �� Vis. 15 Miles �� Wind South 3 Knots �� Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:11 AM
Tuesday, July 30, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 16.0 �C �� Min. 10.3 �C �� Reset 13.8 �C
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:45 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy �� Vis. 15 Miles �� Wind West 30 Knots �� Sea 4 Foot Moderate With Low West Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:16 AM
Monday, July 29, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 15.9 �C �� Min. 10.1 �C�� Reset 15.5 �C
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:53 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy �� Vis. 15 Miles �� Wind West 25 Knots �� Sea 3 Foot Moderate With Low South West Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:21 AM