November Gulls

Ryan Murphy took this shot from the top of the tower. Race Rocks is an important winter roosting place for several species of gull. He did this image in high resolution so that it can be magnified considerably: This is the distribution of them on the south-west corner of Great Race Rocks, the main island of the Ecological Reserve. The Science house, (originally the assistant light-keeper residence) is shown on the right.

RM-Nov1120094096578320_a501b51974_b

Gulls at Race Rocks , November 11, 2009–photo by Ryan Murphy, Ecoguardian.

 

Peregrine Falcon at Race Rocks

Pam Birley took several images of a falcon with the remote camera today. See her images on her Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/66339356@N00/sets/72157622734684234/

See other images and notations about Peregrine Falcons at Race Rocks Ecological reserve.

It also appears in Pams picture file of Nov 27, 2009

pnperegrine09:11:09

Also she took some interesting pictures of A juvenile bald eagle:
pb-eagle-nictitate

Airplane disruptions again

‘Disruption’, ‘Plane’, ‘PatBay Air’, ‘I am guessing the same plane made it’s third low pass over the island today around just before 11:00.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:35:41′

-2009-11-10′, ’10:43:09′, ‘Disruption’, ‘Plane’, ‘C-GHZP’, ‘A PatBay Air craft made it’s 4th or 5th low altitude flight directly over Great Race Island today. The first such incident was reported to us by kayakers who were here enjoying the reserve. They noted that the overflight caused a marine mammal disturbance, and the 3 that I have documented have all involved marine mammal disturbances. Last Sunday was the last time there was such an incident and as such these incidents are occurring with an increasing frequency.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:46:02′

Sea lion fracture

Aside

rmfracturenov709Yes, this was interesting… he climbed up the boat ramp (sloped concrete) then walked about 20m up more concrete to an elevation here of about 5m above sea level. This is the landing area for the derrick pictured elsewhere in the photostream. A day after this photo was taken he was there again, with the swelling reduced considerably. I have seen him a couple of times since, and the flipper is very stiff, but he seems to be able to limp to where he wants to go. Today he was 1 of 2 California sea lions left on the jetty here.

Ryan has recorded more  images on his Flickr site:

See this link to the log pages with injured marine mammals.

Plane disruption

I managed to snap a picture of the plane as it headed W and then into Beecher Bay and it appears to be the same plane reported on Oct. 18. This time the plane dive bombed the island directly over the Main Keeper’s house and was only a couple hundred feet above sea level.Several California sea lions and the majority of the seabirds were disrupted and took flight or to the water.11:29:05

Boats in the Ecological Reserve data for 2009

3-ele-sealsNov-09

Three Elephant seals today on the island.

This is a summary of the Boat Observations by the Ecoguardians for the year 2009. It has been transferred from the old logging system, and when time is available it will be placed in the new logs. GF

 

‘2009-02-07’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ’35ft cabin cruiser with 4 passengers at 1450hrs’, ‘Chris’, ’18:11:33′),
‘2009-02-07’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘Prince of Whales rib\r\n10 passengers\r\nat 1550hrs\reenentered from West’, ‘Chris’, ’18:12:31′),
‘2009-02-08’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ’24ft sailboat with 2 passengers\r\n1450hrs’, ‘Chris’, ’06:51:54′),
‘2009-02-09’, ‘Pleasure’, 2, ‘One boat sited off North rock in the afternoon was eventually taken under tow by what looks to be a coast guard vessel.. blue flashing lights. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:35:15′),
‘2009-02-11’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 2, ”, ‘Garry’, ’10:35:20′),
‘2009-03-25’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 5, ‘Orca Whale Adventures and Prince of Whales zodiacs completed similar tours of the reserve around 14:00 today.  A third “Cetacean” aluminum boat and the PoW zodiac followed some stellars swimming in the front passage.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:25:14′),
‘2009-04-03’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 2, ‘2 of the new Prince of Whales monster zodiacs were in the reserve at 11:00 today.  The last to leave didn”t want until exiting the reserve before powering up and created significant wake here on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:20:52′),
‘2009-04-14’, ‘Pleasure’, 3, ‘1 small yellow-hulled pleasure craft sped through the N side of the reserve E to W.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:02:36′),
‘2009-04-14’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 7, ‘3 infractions causing marine mammals to stampede into the water reported to Roy Osselton.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:03:06′),
‘2009-05-16’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 7, ”, ‘Ryan’, ’13:55:41′),
‘2009-05-23’, ‘Pleasure’, 0, ”, ‘Ryan’, ’09:44:01′),
‘2009-05-27’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 22, ‘Three orca spirit boats came closer than 100m throughout the day.’, ‘Adam’, ’08:11:06′),
‘2009-05-28’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’12:56:57′),
‘2009-05-28’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 15, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:13:50′),
‘2009-05-29’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 10, ‘as of 14:00’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:58:45′),
‘2009-05-30’, ‘Pleasure’, 2, ‘Two pleasure boats entered the reserve today under high speed. Radio contact was made with the first and the driver replied saying he was unaware of the speed restriction. The second could not be distinguished accurately enough in order to contact on the radio.’, ‘Adam’, ’19:40:55′),
‘2009-05-30’, ‘Diving’, 2, ”, ‘Adam’, ’19:41:34′),
‘2009-05-30’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 5, ”, ‘Adam’, ’19:41:49′),
‘2009-05-31’, ‘Pleasure’, 7, ‘There were 3 speed/distance infractions: a rental boat from PB Marina and two other pleasure craft.’, ‘Adam’, ’18:26:33′),
‘2009-05-31’, ‘Fishing’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:26:49′),
‘2009-05-31’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 17, ‘Distance infractions from: Eagle Wing Tours, unidentified company with registration # C01898BC (x2 today; many times before).’, ‘Adam’, ’18:28:23′),
‘2009-05-31’, ‘Diving’, 1, ‘Exited east through the reserve under high speed.’, ‘Adam’, ’18:29:01′),
‘2009-05-31’, ‘Kayak’, 2, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:29:08′),
‘2009-06-01’, ‘Fishing’, 3, ”, ‘Adam’, ’14:14:44′),
‘2009-06-01’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 5, ”, ‘Adam’, ’16:53:54′),
‘2009-06-02’, ‘Fishing’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’21:06:38′),
‘2009-06-02’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 24, ”, ‘Adam’, ’21:27:29′),
‘2009-06-03’, ‘Fishing’, 3, ”, ‘Adam’, ’22:39:17′),
‘2009-06-03’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’22:39:24′),
‘2009-06-03’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 10, ”, ‘Adam’, ’22:39:33′),
‘2009-06-04’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 8, ”, ‘Adam’, ’22:02:08′),
‘2009-06-05’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 14, ”, ‘Adam’, ’19:51:13′),
‘2009-06-07’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:38:09′),
‘2009-06-07’, ‘Fishing’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:38:19′);
‘2009-06-07’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 10, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:38:29′),
‘2009-06-09’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 15, ”, ‘Adam’, ’10:42:52′),
‘2009-06-11’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 5, ”, ‘Adam’, ’21:57:12′),
‘2009-06-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 8, ”, ‘Adam’, ’11:43:09′),
‘2009-06-15’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 14, ”, ‘Adam’, ’11:11:26′),
‘2009-06-21’, ‘Pleasure’, 0, ”, ‘Adam’, ’09:44:46′),
‘2009-06-21’, ‘Diving’, 0, ”, ‘Adam’, ’09:44:51′),
‘2009-06-21’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 0, ”, ‘Adam’, ’09:44:56′),
‘2009-06-20’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’09:45:21′),
‘2009-06-20’, ‘Fishing’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’09:45:26′),
‘2009-06-20’, ‘Diving’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’09:45:33′),
‘2009-06-20’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 15, ”, ‘Adam’, ’09:45:41′),
‘2009-06-23’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 5, ”, ‘Adam’, ’12:22:31′),
‘2009-06-24’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 3, ”, ‘Adam’, ’17:19:48′),
‘2009-06-25’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 6, ”, ‘Adam’, ’21:37:59′),
‘2009-07-04’, ‘Diving’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:15:39′),
‘2009-07-10’, ‘Pleasure’, 2, ”, ‘Adam’, ’08:28:47′),
‘2009-07-10’, ‘Fishing’, 2, ”, ‘Adam’, ’08:28:56′),
‘2009-07-10’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 7, ”, ‘Adam’, ’08:29:04′),
‘2009-07-15’, ‘Pleasure’, 2, ‘test of the system’, ‘Garry’, ’17:06:38′),
‘2009-07-17’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 31, ”, ‘Adam’, ’10:40:20′),
‘2009-07-17’, ‘Fishing’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’10:40:29′),
‘2009-07-17’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Hyaku and a Clean Currents boat were doing some work for the cable laying.’, ‘Adam’, ’10:41:01′),
‘2009-07-17’, ‘Pleasure’, 2, ”, ‘Adam’, ’10:41:12′),
‘2009-07-27’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 5, ”, ‘max’, ’19:27:23′),
‘2009-08-08’, ‘Pleasure’, 5, ”, ‘max’, ’18:03:14′),
‘2009-08-08’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 21, ”, ‘max’, ’18:03:27′),
‘2009-08-08’, ‘Kayak’, 2, ”, ‘max’, ’18:03:41′),
‘2009-08-08’, ‘Diving’, 1, ”, ‘max’, ’18:03:51′),
‘2009-08-09’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 3, ”, ‘max’, ’19:56:57′),
‘2009-08-10’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 2, ”, ‘max’, ’19:29:29′),
‘2009-08-11’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 4, ”, ‘Adam’, ’09:12:19′),
‘2009-08-11’, ‘Pleasure’, 6, ”, ‘Adam’, ’09:12:27′),
‘2009-08-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 45, ”, ‘max’, ’18:22:52′),
‘2009-08-12’, ‘Pleasure’, 2, ”, ‘Adam’, ’11:16:48′),
‘2009-08-12’, ‘Pleasure’, 25, ”, ‘Adam’, ’11:17:05′),
‘2009-08-13’, ‘Pleasure’, 5, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:22:42′),
‘2009-08-15’, ‘Pleasure’, 10, ‘Numerous pleasure boats were seen speeding through the Reserve today, as well as several fishing just on or inside the boundaries of the reserve. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’19:56:17′),
‘2009-08-15’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 5, ‘One tour boat spotted cutting kelp so that tourists could examine it and eat it (!)’, ‘Adam’, ’19:56:50′),
‘2009-08-15’, ‘Diving’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’19:56:59′),
‘2009-08-16’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ”, ‘max’, ’19:45:23′),
‘2009-08-16’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 11, ”, ‘max’, ’19:45:32′),
‘2009-08-16’, ‘Fishing’, 12, ”, ‘max’, ’19:45:42′),
‘2009-08-17’, ‘Pleasure’, 5, ”, ‘Adam’, ’06:54:36′),
‘2009-08-17’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 3, ”, ‘Adam’, ’06:54:45′),
‘2009-08-23’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 26, ”, ‘Adam’, ’17:30:10′),
‘2009-08-25’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Testing…’, ‘admin’, ’15:08:15′),
‘2009-08-25’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 30, ”, ‘Adam’, ’20:56:56′),
‘2009-08-26’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 30, ”, ‘Adam’, ’22:36:02′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ‘Success in contacting them as they sped through the reserve.  They reduced speed and I thanked them.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:05:47′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ‘A blue-hulled pleasure craft with 70hp Johnson sped through the reserve and ignored all hails.  A Caucasian woman was at the helm and boy was her passenger.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:13:38′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘SpringTide came through today around 11:00, pursued sea lions in the water through the kelp bed between here and North Rock and twice positioned its active props in the path of swimming sea lions.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:14:26′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘Prince of Whales \\”The Empress\\” was in today at 11:45, and was a model of responsible and sustainable eco-tour operation in the reserve.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:48:04′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘Sooke Coastal Explorations (C10570BC) followed shortly after \\”The Empress\\” and copied their good behaviour.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:50:03′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘The Marauder IV a Springtide Tours boat arrived at 11:54 and made a slow pass through the channel.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:54:57′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 2, ‘MV Goldwing and an OceanExplorations.Com boat arrived at 12:15.  The MV Goldwing was much more attentive to its approach this time, ”m so proud”.  The OE.com boat came in fast but slowed in the channel.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:20:30′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘Five Star SuperCat came through at 12:30, very close to Great Race as it drifted through the channel.  Several basking Californians moved in from the kelp bed.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:35:10′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 2, ‘Prince of Whales \\”Queen of Hearts\\” and \\”Her Majesty\\” arrived at 1:04 and 1:05 respectively after leaving orca viewing to the east of the reserve.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:05:19′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ‘BC-548385 vessel entered the reserve at speed (200hp on back) from the south.  I hailed them to slow.  As they sped past the Assistant Keeper\\”s house I got their serial number and again hailed them to slow, at which point they did.  They made a slow pass through the channel and left to the E.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:26:30′),
(665, ‘2009-09-13’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ‘BC1151531 a blue-hulled boat came into the reserve today at 1:15 and spent over 20 minutes motoring around the islands.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:37:31′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘Prince of Whales \\”The Jester\\” arrived at 1:50.  It was not past the winch house (relative to my perspective in line with North Race) before it began to power up and its wake made it through the kelp bed to wear the Northern Sea lions are hauled out on the NE corner of Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:56:13′),
(667, ‘2009-09-13’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ‘An Oak Bay Marine Group rental boat was spotted motoring around North Race at 1:55 and slowly motored E at 2:00.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:01:04′),
(668, ‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘Prince of Whales \\”Ocean Magic II\\” entered the reserve today at 2:10 and passed by the jetty at 2:13.  This boat is generally very good about angling away from the jetty during its drifts, however today it required a course adjustment that created a lot of prop wash.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:14:36′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 3, ‘The SeaFun Safari zodiac C01898BC their speedboat Serengeti and the Prince of Whales boat \\”The Empress” all arrived around 3:00.  As expected, the zodiac really pushed the 100m viewing guideline, at times less than 20m from the jetty.  The Serengeti was a bit better behaved, and the Prince of Whales boat being the most responsible.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:17:28′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘Sooke Coastal Expeditions again, couldn\\”t get near the jetty as the C01898BC boat was positioned cross-ways in the channel.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:18:08′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘The Marauder IV of Springtide Tours was back at 4:00.  Cold people without jackets on deck!’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:04:37′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘POW \\”Her Majesty\\” was back at 4:05.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:08:51′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘Great Pacific Adventure\\”s large cabin cruiser arrived at 4:12.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:16:30′),
‘2009-09-13’, ‘Pleasure’, 1, ‘An Explorer 672 vessel registry 1K3397 came barreling through the channel at 4:24 creating more wake than any vessel today washing up against the hauled out sea lions causing some to take to the water.  Hailed on VHF68 to no avail.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:25:25′),
‘2009-09-14’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Laura Verhegge arrived with her Marine Science class for an orientation just after 8.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:07:45′),
‘2009-09-20’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 23, ‘At 12:12 I radioed the Cetacean that they were creating wake off the jetty to which they replied they were going just 6 knots. I confirmed that 7 knots or less was the DFO guidelines.  A chorus of whale watchers joined in on VHF16 that the Cetacean was well within its rights.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:41:59′),
‘2009-09-20’, ‘Pleasure’, 8, ‘A Campion Explorer boat with serial 1K3570 entered the reserve just after 12 and island hopped for photo opportunities.  At around 12:20 they pursued a group of swimming sea lions south of Great Race until the marine mammals duck-dived with splash.  I was unable to raise them on VHF.\r\nAnother Campion Explorer boat with serial 1K3397 planed through the reserve W to E stopping just in front of the jetty, then maneuvering in the channel for 3 minutes before powering up again and planing out of the reserve.  I was unable to raise them on either VHF16 or 68. See Infraction report of the group who stopped to feed the sea lions. A large pleasure cruiser (BC663375) ambled through the reserve around 1:30 to 1:45 today.  They motored through the kelp bed on the North side of Middle Rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:41:51′),
‘2009-09-20’, ‘Kayak’, 2, ‘A single and a double arrived just after slack tide.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:46:52′),
‘2009-09-23’, ‘Other’, 3, ‘Hyaku was here twice today, and the zodiac once.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:27:18′),
‘2009-09-23’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 18, ‘With bad weather comes bad behaviour.  The Wildcat (the giant red boat) came through the reserve at speed today, not slowing until they had reached the jetty.  The entire front end came out of the water to give an indication of its speed.  I was talking with Judy Lavoie at the Times Colonist as POW\\”s giant ship came barreling through the channel between North and Middle Rocks… they didn\\”t even slow to view the sea lions until their second pass.  Highly unusual behaviour for POW, but as I said, animal welfare is only a priority on nice days.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:00:44′),
‘2009-09-24’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 6, ‘as of 11:00.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:01:38′),
‘2009-09-26’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 12, ‘As of 15:00’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:13:26′),
‘2009-09-27’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 11, ‘As of 16:00.\r\n Seafun Safari’s Serengeti I always notice because of their close approaches to the rocks.  Today their driver was paying more attention to his cellphone than his driving and exceeded the 7 knots guidelines right in front of the jetty, perhaps the most sensitive area for swimming sea lions.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:58:34′),
‘2009-09-27’, ‘Pleasure’, 8, ‘An Oak Bay Marine Group rental boat was fishing Rockfish in the reserve from about 14:00 onwards.  I took the boat out to them as Pedder Bay Marina and R/V Resort was unable to deter their customers from the illegal fishing activities.  I have video of the incident.\r\nThree other boats at that time asked me how close they could get to the sea lions, and were very careful while in the reserve.\r\nRecreational vessel serial 14K 33742 sped into the reserve charged up to the NE corner of the island causing sea lions to stampede.  Did not respond to hails on VHF 16 and 68.  Proceeded W along the front of Great Race much too close and moving too fast, waved when they saw me motioning for them to move further away.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:54:13′),
(685, ‘2009-09-29’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 10, ‘The big POW and FiveStar boats did more than their usual maneuvering off the jetty today.  The create a lot of wash when moving like this.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:38:14′),
‘2009-10-04’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 21, ‘The students studying here this weekend commented on how close the boats came to shore.  At one point there were 6 boats in front of the jetty… a growing problem of crowding that should be addressed.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:36:10′),
‘2009-10-12’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 7, ‘as of 16:00’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:44:15′),
‘2009-10-18’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 6, ”, ‘Ryan’, ’15:41:03′),
‘2009-10-22’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 8, ”, ‘Ryan’, ’09:19:47′),

‘2009-11-02’, ‘Eco-Tour’, 1, ‘Very unusual disturbance today.  The POW boat “Empress” rounded the corner W->E at 13:00 at a respectful distance far outside the route that some of the large boats will take.  The California sea lions on the jetty were immediately spooked at 20-30 animals took to the water.  While they did cause a disturbance and were within the 100m DFO guideline for marine mammal viewing (particularly at Race Rocks), the operator did nothing out of the ordinary and had no time to react to mitigate the disturbance his boat caused.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:34:52′),

(24, ‘2009-06-01′, ’14:13:28’, ‘Too Close’, ‘Boat’, ‘Century’, ‘Approached too close to Middle Rock. Made contact with the driver on VHF 16.’, ‘Adam’, ’14:14:29′),
(25, ‘2009-06-01′, ’14:14:54’, ‘Speed’, ‘Boat’, ”, ‘Sped through the passage between Middle Rock and North Rock. Licence could not be determined.’, ‘Adam’, ’14:15:30′),
(26, ‘2009-05-31′, ’14:16:22’, ‘Disruption’, ‘Boat’, ‘C01898BC’, ‘Approached the end of the jetty and dirsupted a sea lion, to which the tourists on the boat became very excited and started cheering, furthering its displacement into the water.’, ‘Adam’, ’14:18:30′),
(27, ‘2009-05-31′, ’14:17:37’, ‘Too Close’, ‘Boat’, ‘Eagle Wing Tours’, ‘Approached too close to North Rock, disrupting seals.’, ‘Adam’, ’14:18:06′),
(28, ‘2009-06-30′, ’16:00:14’, ‘Fishing’, ‘Boat’, ‘na’, ‘yellow hull bayliner, 3 persons on board, fishing by middle rock\r\n\r\nhailed on the radio, no response\r\n\r\neventually drifted away with current’, ‘max’, ’18:00:26′),
(29, ‘2009-07-01′, ’11:56:19’, ‘Fishing’, ‘Boat’, ‘n/a’, ’15 foot blue fibreglass boat. No licence number visible. Two males on board, fishing on N side of N. Rock. Caught one fish before departing into Race Passage.’, ‘Adam’, ’11:57:41′),
(30, ‘2009-07-29′, ’21:24:27’, ‘Landing’, ‘Boat’, ‘not visible’, ‘Upon returning to RR at 2100 this evening we came across a 19-foot Larson with two males on board who had just landed on the jetty. We informed them of their inappropriate behavior and they departed shortly thereafter.\r\n\r\nUpon inspection of the island, their story that they had just landed seemed plausible. ‘, ‘max’, ’21:27:57′),
(31, ‘2009-08-09′, ’19:45:00’, ‘Too Close’, ‘Plane’, ‘unknown’, ‘fly-by at approx 1945 this evening, single engine sea plane heading east.’, ‘max’, ’19:58:09′),
(32, ‘2009-08-10′, ’00:11:00’, ‘Fishing’, ‘Boat’, ‘rental from Pedd’, ‘Fishing off Middle Rock. Four persons on board. Were informed of the ecological reserve boundaries in person, and they exited the reserve immediately, heading towards Church Island.’, ‘max’, ’19:31:34′),
(33, ‘2009-08-16′, ’19:45:47’, ‘Fishing’, ‘Boat’, ”, ‘There were 13 infractions today, all by fishing vessels.\r\n\r\n7 vessels were fishing in the reserve.\r\n\r\n3 were traveling too fast through the reserve.\r\n\r\n3 were too close to marine mammals.\r\n\r\nTherefore, it appears as if efforts to educate about the boundaries of the reserve and recommended boating practices within the reserve must be increased.’, ‘max’, ’19:47:18′),
(34, ‘2009-08-25′, ’15:08:49’, ‘Fishing’, ‘Boat’, ”, ‘test’, ‘admin’, ’15:08:55′),
(35, ‘2009-09-20′, ’13:31:04’, ‘Other’, ‘Boat’, ’30K2923′, ‘Welcome to the Race Rocks Zoo.\r\nThis boat ambled in safely enough, then proceeded to throw food to the sea lions!  I have a very clear photo of one man throwing what appears to be baitfish into the air and the other man watching it fly.  He proceeded to throw more food until I waved him off.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:35:49′),
(36, ‘2009-10-03′, ’17:10:39’, ‘Fishing’, ‘Boat’, ’14K39952′, ‘This boat ignored radio hails on VHF 16 and 68.  The Fisheries hotline was contacted at 17:10.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:11:20′),
(37, ‘2009-10-03′, ’17:11:24’, ‘Fishing’, ‘Boat’, ‘Pedder Bay renta’, ‘The three gentlemen who identified themselves as Chinese when they were caught illegally fishing in the reserve last Saturday are here fishing Rosedale Reef and S of Great Race.  Rick at Pedder Bay has informed me they are now banned for life from renting their boats.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:12:37′),
(38, ‘2009-10-04′, ’11:36:17’, ‘Fishing’, ‘Boat’, ‘Pedder Bay renta’, ‘3 men claimed to have a First Nations\\” traditional use license.  I did not tell them to stop fishing or push the issue as their growing frustration with hooking the bottom soon led them to leave the reserve.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:37:49′),
(39, ‘2009-10-18′, ’15:41:08’, ‘Too Close’, ‘Boat’, ’13K117331′, ‘Trophy Pro man and son were cruising through the kelp beds on the E side of Great Race and then got within 20m of the sea lions hauled out on the NE corner of the island.  Hailed on VHF16 and 68, no response.\r\nI have photographs of several animals showing the characteristic duck-dive/splash behaviour when surprised by a boat in close proximity to their haul outs.’, ‘Ryan’, ’21:50:46′),
(40, ‘2009-10-18′, ’21:50:52’, ‘Too Close’, ‘Plane’, ‘?’, ‘This report comes from a group of VNHS kayakers who photographed a float plane at very low altitude in the reserve.  They reported that California sea lions took to the water as the plane flew as low as 100-200\\”.’, ‘Ryan’, ’21:52:50′),
(41, ‘2009-09-27′, ’21:56:34’, ‘Fishing’, ‘Boat’, ‘Pedder Bay renta’, ‘Video and photographs submitted to DFO of a man and 2 youth who identified themselves as Chinese who were fishing Rockfish in the reserve.’, ‘Ryan’, ’21:57:15′),

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Disturbances from Boat traffic

‘Disruption’, ‘Boat’, ‘Today at 13:00 a boat drifted with the flood current around the NW corner of Great Race and in doing so spooked ~60 California sea lions who were hauled out on the jetty. 20 or 30 of these animals took to the water while the driver diverted his course further away from the island. The disturbance reported here has not been relayed to DFO because in my opinion the vessel operator did nothing out of the ordinary to cause the disturbance and that the frequency of such routine infractions make these incidents difficult for DFO to handle. When I say “nothing out of the ordinary”, what I mean is that the vessel operator ignored the DFO guideline that marine mammal viewing should be done at a minimum of 100m from the animals “including those on the rocks” while also ignoring the PWWA’s recommendation that these guidelines be followed at Race Rocks in particular.I have documented this incident here to inform all users of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve that the marine mammals here are wild animals and they are NOT universally habituated to human contact and boat traffic. There are complex seasonal and stochastic factors that influence the animals’ behaviour and no level of prior experience in viewing these animals can allow an observer to predict with absolute certainty their responses to our forced contact.While conventional tours in the reserve usually pose no problem, future disturbance infractions wherein vessel operators have chosen to ignore DFO guidelines will be duly recorded and reported.’, ‘Ryan’

Wind Sentinnel Research

The Wind Sentinnel deployed at Race Rocks on October 18, 2009
-Estimated duration is Oct. 16 – Nov. 16 (logistics/weather dependant)
-Buoy Deployment Location – Lat: 48° 17.606’N    Long: 123° 32.370’W
-Communications – Buoy: Cellular phone
-Communications – land station: Race Rocks LAN wired Ethernet connection
.AXYSWindSentinelWe will be able to benefit by adding the information collected to the knowledge base for the reserve. It will also be useful for planning for future sustainable energy applications.

In October, 2009, Lester Pearson College had an opportunity to participate in an offshore wind assessment test by AXYS Technologies Inc. in the Strait of Juan de Fuca .See video of test in Juan de Fuca off Race Rocks
Sidney firm deploys world’s first wind buoy :
Times Colonist,October 28, 2009
Great Race Rocks was used to host the land station for an offshore buoy which is designed to record  wind speed and direction data profiles up to 200 meters height. It is anchored outside of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Data from the buoy is relayed automatically every 10 minutes by cell phone to the instrument trailer on land and is transmitted to the internet through our LAN on Race Rocks.

See the Link below to this brochure pdf with more specifications

 

 

Link for more specifications AXYSWindSentinel

We will be able to benefit by adding the information collected to the knowledge base for the reserve. It will also be useful for planning for future sustainable energy applications

Our current wind measurements done by the Davis weather instrument we have installed on the ground level, often show at least a 10 km/h difference in wind velocity when compared with the Environment Canada data from the top of the tower at 36 metres. A set of data with projections to 200 metres will provide an excellent profile for comparisons.

See this sample file on Analyzing the data as an exercise
To access the Live Streaming Data from the instrument AXYS Technologies has provided the fiollowing link:http://data.axystechnologies.com/AXYSWebView/WEBVIEW/webview.aspx
Username: windtrial
Password: axyswind
The left hand window shows the station, which if you click on will expand out to show the messages (metocean and Waves) and if you click the + beside these you will get the individual data parameters which you can plot into a graph by selecting the checkbox of the parameter you want to graph and then clicking the Graph icon at the top of that window.
You can also see a table of the data by simply clicking on the message (click on the 1 MetOcean name and a table will appear on the RHS window with all the data) 

Times Colonist Article on Wind buoy deployed at RR

Sidney firm deploys world’s first wind buoy :
Times Colonist,October 28, 2009
http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Sidney+firm+deploys+world+first+wind+buoy/2153639/story.html

Sidney’s AXYS Technologies has deployed the world’s first offshore wind resource assessment buoy near Race Rocks in order to test the machine prior to its commercial launch.

The WindSentinel was launched this week to compare wind data collected on the moving buoy to wind data collected from a station on Race Rocks about a half kilometre away.

The WindSentinel is designed to assist offshore wind farm developers in determining the available wind resource at potential wind farm sites. It is the world’s first wind resource assessment buoy capable of accurately measuring wind data at heights of conventional offshore wind turbines.

AXYS said wind farm developers have had to construct permanent offshore meteorological towers to do that work at an estimated cost of about $10 million. By contrast, a basic WindSentinel model is approximately $1 million.

The test site was chosen to thoroughly assess the buoy’s capabilities as the waters at Race Rocks see currents of between five and six knots, waves measuring between two and four metres high and winds up to 50 knots.

The results of the study are to be released in early 2010.

“The WindSentinel allows developers to collect crucial wind resource assessment data more accurately, more quickly and less expensively than every other available option,” said AXYS spokesman Dennis Stacey.
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

Eco-tour boats in action

‘Eco-Tour boat count= 10,
‘Every visitor to Race Rocks that has witnessed eco-tour boats in action has remarked at how close they get to the sea lions in the water and the rocks. These visitors include students, community groups, and professionals outside of Pearson College. I inform them of DFO’s guidelines posted on the web, as well as their recent poster that advertises these guidelines specifically for Race Rocks. It has been said to me from multiple people not associated with Pearson College that the significant economic and therefore political swing of these eco-tour businesses in Victoria give them considerable leeway between their actions and the enforcement of the law.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:24:30′),