Category Archives: Facility work

cloudy

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Cloudy, but still no rain. Light NE winds most of the day. No fog.
First day it actually felt like Fall. It didn’t get above 10C today.
Water temp 9.8C. Visibility is still pretty good, but nothing like it was last week.
Tour boats: 14
Dive boat: 1

Fly over by an air plane midday. NE to SW. Low.

The Elephant seals are still camped out on the boat ramp. The small females are always next to the juvenile male. But the larger females are less interested in him. Still no sign of Misery.

The seagull with the broken wing has taken to following me around the island.

The outer rocks/islands have almost no sea lions on them. They have all moved to the North-East flats next to the Keeper’s house and on the South side of the student house.

-Ran desalinator
-Pressure washed South side and reachable West side of keepers house

plumbing day

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Overcast with intermittent showers. Calm seas with a low westerly swell building in the evening.

tour boats: 5

Elephant seal 6360 has returned after being gone for a couple weeks.

P1000926

#6360

P1000925

#6360

 

-Installed shut off from student house to solar panels
-Fixed leak in hose valve at SW corner of energy building
-Fixed leaky hose nozzle and valve on solar panel roof
-Fixed and reaplced all broken and missing hose attachments that could be found
-Worked on the RR operating manual

mammal census

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Calm and sunny.

As of 1130, sighted from the tower, there are:
233 Stellar sea lions
269 California sea lions
100 Harbour seals
11 Elephant seals

The white fronted goose is still around.
Saw whale spouts and tail flukes to the West. Likely Gray whales.

-Washed desalinator bunker and water tank shed
-Pressure washed West wall of student house

Animal Notes

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A single, juvenile Greater White Fronted goose (Anser albifrons) arrived a few days ago and has been rustling around the middle of Greater Race Rock. This species was also documented at Race Rocks on May 2012, May 2007 and September 2007. Thanks Ann for verifying the species.

At the end of September a juvenile elephant seal was on the jetty for roughly a week. It had the classic signs of a scabby molt. Scabby molt is a skin disease that attacks elephant seals between the ages of eight months and two years old. Two-year-old elephant seals often suffer from a skin disease known as the northern elephant seal skin disease or NESSD for short. This form of dermatitis is also often referred to as scabby molt. This ulcerative skin disease can either infect a small portion of the fur and underlying skin or spread to cover up to 60% or more of this outer protective layer. Although, in most cases, the elephant seals heal up without any further problems, sometimes, secondary bacterial infections and/or sepsis can lead to death.

Check out this link to a paper by Beckamn et al, 1997 that describes this disease.

-Ran desalinator
-Washed solar panels
-Washed exterior windows on Student house
-Tidied Student house basement and bathroom
-Hung pictures in student house
-Fixed underwater camera issue with help from Jonathan

beautiful windy day

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25-30 kt West wind since 1400 hrs

-6 elephant seals came ashore and napped behind the boat shed
-9 pelicans flew over, north to south. It seems like they pause over the islands and rest in the updrafts before crossing towards Port Angeles
-The sealions have occupied the whole area between the jetty and boat shed, the derrick shed, and the North-East flats

Off island from 1300 to 1500 hrs
New voltmeter courtesy of Erik

-ran desalinator
-washed solar panels
-found a couple small hose leaks

battery day

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3 tour boats
22 peilcans flew over aroun 1600, but were gone before I could get a photo
Sealions have decided to move up closer to the house
3 elephant seals spent the afternoon on the boat ramp

-Erik came and helped with battery maintenance
-An electrician came out and fixed some light fixtures
-A couple people came and cleaned the house up a bit

Sept 2/13

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Morning Wx: wind – N 7kts, sky – Ovrcst

  • 1045hrs – morning wash down of the solar panels and
  • Recreational Fishing Activity count; during which we observed 4 boats fishing within the Reserve; all were reported to the DFO hotline.
  • Also performed marine mammal count within the Reserve:
    Sealions: 450
    Harbour seals: 125
  • Marine traffic transiting through the Reserve:
    eco-tours vessels: 23
    private vessels: 9

Marine-Mania!

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Elephant seal snoozing

Elephant seal snoozing, #6375 in the background

Another female elephant seal, significantly larger than the tagged #6375, has visited twice this week. It is not tagged. The tagged female has also stayed around. Yesterday, she was resting in the shallow water and blocking the boat ramp as I was returning from the mainland in the Whaler. I left the boat tied up so not to disturb the seal and returned in an hour. The seal had moved to a very crowded area that many of the sea lions use as their water entrance/exit and was snapping and chasing the sea lions. I assume this was playful behaviour although the elephant seal was quite aggressive.

This first image shows the seal waiting at the surface.

 

 

Then the seal approaches the sea lions on its back, provoking them.

 

 

And with a splash, the chase ensues!

 

 

A new project on-the-go is a daily count of the number of fishing boats. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans are wanting to monitor the impact of sport fishing in the area. We survey an area from Beechey Head to Albert Head. On some days, there more than 100 sport fishermen in the area.