disentanglement | Race Rocks Ecological Reserve-

Weather:

Sky Clear and blue
Visibility 15+ NM
Wind 20-25 knots NE
Sea state: swells up to one meter
Temperature outside: 19.8 C
Pressure: 1021 hPa (decreasing)
We have been seeing consistent fog in the late evening, lasting for an average of 2 hrs. The fog banks seem to move over us from Port Angeles.

Visitors:

Marine Mammal Rescue and DFO visited yesterday (more on this below).
Steady flow of pleasure crafts and whale watching vessels over the long weekend.

Sea Lion Disentanglement:

Yesterday Marine Mammal Rescue along with the support of DFO vessels and staff came to help a sea lion with a plastic packing band stuck around his neck. They were able to successfully dart the sea lion with a tranquilizer injection, remove the band, give him tracking tags on his front flippers, and take a blood sample. When this was done they injected a reversal drug to wake him up and with a little scratch he was back on his way!

: Sea lion with plastic packing band entanglement

: DFO and MMR arriving

: DFO aided in the search for other entanglements with their drone

: Preparing a dose of tranquilizer

: Marty (veterinarian, MMR) getting close to take his shot

: The dart can be seen on the right side of the sea lion

: Removing the plastic!

: Adding tags to his front flippers and taking a blood sample

: Waking up after the reversal injection

: Much better!

Ecological Notes:

The seagull chicks have officially flown the coop! Only a few remain and we are able to move around the island again without bothering the nesting birds.
This year we have noticed significantly less trash left behind by seagulls than last year. Our best guess is that they had more food available to them this summer, which would also align with observing them regurgitating much more fish that the previous season.
The sea lions have been increasing in numbers every day. The new fencing material that Nick and Greg used seems to be working much better than the wire that we tried last year, preventing them from damaging the island infrastructure. We have been letting them rest on the jetty this week but we will soon need to install more fencing in preparation for student visits.
Yesterday we found two turnstones which appeared to have been killed by the gulls while we were investigating the area near the codar antenna (SW Great Race Rock).

: Foggy morning yesterday

: Cormorants on seal rock

: harbour seals on E side of Great Rock

: Sea lions challenging each other for the highest rock!

: Sea lions sleeping in (1)

: (2)

: (3)

: (4)

: (5)

: (6)

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: Beautiful clear waters yesterday

: Gull and chick

Weather:

Visibility 15+ NE
Sky overcast, cloudy
Wind 15-25 kn N
Water moderate waves, white caps.

Visitors/Boats:

Around 15 whale watching boats yesterday
Corey, Guy, and a student with their visiting grandparents visited yesterday, and delivered water- the desalinator is on the horizon!
We are ending our term on Race Rocks tomorrow, so Greg and Guy will come for a debrief before the next eco-guardian takes over.

Yesterday we saw a pleasure craft enter the reserve and drop snorkelers into the water less than 100 m from our jetty, within 5 m of shore and the hauled out sea lions. The animals were distressed and swam around the snorkelers barking. The current was flooding very quickly (5 knots), which creates dangerous water currents, eddies, and upwellings. We as well as Corey in Second Nature motioned for the boat to move away, but they simply gathered the snorkelers and moved around the corner where they presumably thought we would not see them. An eco-tourism vessel in the reserve also noticed them and contacted us to let us know, out of concern for their safety given the animals present and the currents at the time.

In the past scuba divers and vessels have found themselves capsized or pulled away from their dive site and rescued by helicopter, and in 2015 a diver went missing and was found deceased days after they disappeared by a fisherman after rescue crews were not able to find them. We were especially concerned for this group’s safety due to lack of float marking their position and the frequent boating traffic through the reserve. In the past, seal pups have been decapitated by vessels passing through too quickly and unable to see them. If these snorkelers had been pulled away by the currents, there would have been a high chance of being struck by a vessel unable to see them in the rough water.

: Snorkelers entering the water next in Race Passage.

: A distressed sea lion very close to the snorkelers. Some of these animals weigh 500+ kg.

Ecological:

The sea lions population continues to grow! We are having to repair the fences sometimes twice per day. It seems like a more powerful electric fence energizer could be a good idea.
We spotted a little Greylag goose among the Canadian geese yesterday.
The sea lion that we spotted on Sept. 12th with an apparent propeller wound to his head is still here. He stays near the jetty and seems to have some behavioural anomalies, presumably due to the head injury. He is not afraid of us like the others, and does not move away into the water with the others when we clear the jetty. We haven’t had any problems but are weary that his behaviour could be unpredictable. Marty (the vet that came to aid in rescuing the entangled sea lion) mentioned that sometimes when this happens a shard of their skull can splinter and cause a brain infection. We hope this little guy is on the mend.
There have been many Canadian Geese passing through this week; A few days ago we counted over 20. The geese are not native to the island, but according to Gary Fletcher they arrived somewhere in the 80’s as the population of geese on Vancouver Island were introduced/grew. Addling the eggs began somewhere in the late 90’s. Unfortunately, this year two nests survived and hatched goslings, meaning that 20 geese left the island after 8 nested here in the spring.