Killer Whales, Porpoise and Sea Lions Galore.

It was another glorious day at Race Rocks and the trend is continuing. The barometer rose slowly until late afternoon and then levelled off and dropped a bit. The forecast is for outflow easterlies that are so good at keeping the fog at bay.
Following a little too close.
There was a flurry of whale watching activity today as Southern Resident Killer Whales went past Race Rocks going east with the tide. After the main pod had passed, there were 15 whale watching boats in the reserve and I noted a total of 32 over the day.
Crowded in front of the jetty
I saw two Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) feeding in the reserve. They are such smooth, quiet, little divers. They seemed to be feeding on some sort of forage fish that were flipping at the surface. Very tidy and well behaved compared to the sea lions.
Tide is coming up.
Some of the choice spots for hauling out are quite crowded now and there is a lot of jockeying for position in the California Sea Lion mosh pit where it is not unusual to see animals running across others to find a comfy sleeping spot. They stack in like cord-wood and must keep each other warm.

Here are a few shots of the California Sea Lion with the orange tags (no numbers) that has been ring-necked but seems to be healthy and vigorous. I didn’t find the ring-necked Steller’s today.
Stopped scratching for a moment.
Healing Ring-neck.Healthier ring-neck

Alex Fletcher solved my bird mystery: the mystery birds are Killdeer that arrive just after dark each night. Alex has heard them in the winter too. They must roost on the island and then leave for the day, as I have not seen them in daylight yet.

I finished the fence today, did more cleaning and made fresh water with the desalinator. By the time I went to turn off the generator the Sea Lions were laying on my fence. Hmmm, that is not not very effective.

Bigg’s Killer Whales Kill in Reserve.

The barometer rose all day and so did the westerly winds, so by the time the tide started to ebb, the opposing forces made spectacular waves. Tonight is the last full moon of the summer and it is in perigee, closest to the Earth, so it appears to be a big one, marking the third of a trilogy of super-moons we have been enjoying. It also means bigger than usual tides, making things seem even more dramatic. It was clear all day, no fog, but there are low clouds sneaking in along the Olympic Mountains and the look of fog out to sea. The westerly is supposed to be a little tamer on Tuesday.

Twenty-one tour boats were noted in the reserve today as well as one dive charter boat. A couple of the whale watchers looked like they were pushing the speed limit in the reserve and pushing the marine mammal viewing regulations outside the reserve. No illegal fishing was observed.

I am adding photos to the sea lion branding/tagging observations and that will make the data much more rigorous. Another entangled, aka ring-necked California Sea Lion was photographed. This time it looked like plastic strapping cutting a deep and infected wound.

Bigg’s Killer Whales visited again today. It appeared that they chased Steller Sea Lions all the way here from at least Albert Head. It was very dramatic here as they wove in and out of the kelp and through the tidal rips and standing waves, going with the tide and at great speed. One exhausted male Steller’s hauled out just as the chase was passing and he looked as though he may have been part of it all. He collapsed in a heap and immediately went to sleep. He was the lucky one. The kill happened in the reserve, just southwest of Great Race. There appeared to be a fairly small baby in the family of whales. The group was purportedly the T-61s (not sure of the source however). I tried to take photos so will report back with verified identification information once that comes in.

I finished some more of the set up to protect the ‘Science House’ today and started to clean out the northwest entrance to the generator room. There is a lot of very satisfying cleaning here, when you sweep you really get results, today it was many, many, generations of Ligia pallasii exoskeletons. Wow it’s a moult room instead of a cloak room.

What’s your number?

It was a day without fog at Race Rocks and as the westerlies continue, some serious clouds can be seen piling up on far horizons. The barometer rose all day, which bodes well for tomorrow but there may be a few needed showers.

It was a busy day on the water with 26 whale watching boats visiting the reserve. From the expressions on the tourists’ faces, they seemed to enjoy watching the sea lions. All the skippers were respectful except for two travelling together who did not heed the go-slow zone.

There were so many recreational fishing boats that I could only keep track of the ones who were in contravention of the DFO Rockfish Conservation Area closure which runs around the reserve at a 40m depth. Many of those fishing inside the boundary were in rental boats but some of the other speed boats were doing what they do best…speeding. The Pedder Bay Marina is really good about talking to folks who rent from them and informing them about the conservation area.

I looked for tagged and branded sea lions again today and can report another nine California Sea Lions and four Stellers’ Sea Lions bringing the total number of branded individuals sighted up to 29. Eventually we will know a bit more about their stories from those numbers they carry. There are also two Stellers with neck rings cutting into their flesh and one with a flasher hanging out of its’ mouth. There are individual Harbour Seals, as well as both species of sea lions with major wounds. Speaking of wounds, there were two new, (to me), very small Elephant Seals on the ramp today, probably young of the year, judging from the size.

A few Pigeon Guillemots are still carrying into fish into the large boulder area by the jetty. The chicks must leave for sea at night as I haven’t seen any on the water and most are probably fledged by now. Each day, there are more Pelagic and Double Crested Cormorants roosting on the southwest side of the island.

The desalinator worked for a couple of hours during the sunshine today, making fresh water thanks to the solar panels.

Month end inventory was conducted today with measurements taken of all the fuel, fresh water, and equipment run times recorded.

My other task was to try and stake out a small territory on the jetty so that I can come and go and do the sampling. The elephant seals are no problem, they just sleep as you pass, or open one eye. Keeping the more belligerent California sea lions off the jetty seems to be a losing battle and has made getting out to the end of the jetty to sample seawater, extra challenging.

Injured Steller Sea lion

Clear skies. Strong West winds. Force 6-7.
Barometer was rising most of the day, started to drop around 1200. West gale warning continues for tomorrow as a low pressure moves towards the mainland.

9 tour boats
2 recreational boats passed through the reserve

Yesterday, around midday, an injured Steller Sea lion arrived at Great Race. I saw it swimming through the current below the West cliffs while I was looking for transect pegs. It sussed out the boat ramp (which was full of Elephant seals) and then settled just East of the boat ramp, not far from the crane. It was in the same spot this morning, and stayed there all day. It has a salmon flasher caught in its mouth, and large wounds on both sides. Garry Fletcher suggested it might be an injury from a shark or orca bite. A lot of tour boats have gone through the reserve these past two days, right past this Sea lion, so I expect that it has been thoroughly documented in many people’s vacation photographs.

Continue reading

Photos from the past of couple weeks

 

visitors

Light winds. Clear skies.
Two Eagles this morning.
The Canada Geese have all left the reserve.
There are two elephant seals on the boat ramp.
 

Jamieson and Jer are out for the night
-Worked on SOPs
-Replaced boat ratchet winch
-Put the rest of the paving stones on the boat dolly

 

rainbows

A day of squalls. Sunny periods, followed by sideways rain. Lot’s of rainbows all day.

This photo was forwarded on to me out at Race Rocks from a client on one of the eco-tour companies that operates out of Victoria and is a frequent visitor to the reserve. Because of the challenges in tranquilizing a marine mammal, there is very little that can be done for these animals. However, this incident highlights the fact that eco-tour companies can play a critical role in marine conservation by reporting these incidents and by educating their clients about issues surrounding marine debris. There are some great programs out there that focus on shoreline cleanups. Keep an eye out and volunteer for your local beach  cleanups. They usually happen in the summer and are a lot of fun.

For older posts in the log on the topic of sea lion entanglement or ‘rings’ see this link, and for newer incidences search the tag “entanglement“. For injured marine mammal photos from a previous eco-guardian Ryan Murphy see this flikr site.

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month end

Calm this morning, with mixed weather all day. Started out SE, backed to Westerly. Periods of torrential rain. DND blasting: 1200, 1205. Both big, loud single bangs.

Tour boats: 9

22 Canada Geese
Keeping my eye out for Sooty Shearwaters, no sign yet

Mammal Count from tower at 1130
9 elephant seals behind boat shed and on jetty 47 harbour seals (mostly Middle Rocks)
129 Stellar sea lions (mostly along the North shore of the main island)
200 California sea lions (mostly along the South shore in front of the student house)
Seems like this bad weather compelled a lot of the sea lions to leave. Maybe they’re just out in the water waiting for the swell and surge to ease up.

I spotted the Stellar sea lion with the line around his neck again today and got a few pictures.

-entered and sent water sampling data to IOS
-compiled month end report
-photographed branded sea lions
-fixed electric fence after storm damage
-tidied keepers house

The Sad Reality

Sea Lions are tough and resilient animals. They can deal with sharp rocks and pounding waves but like many animals they have difficulties with human plastic products. Sometimes they will swallow salmon that are already hooked, or get snagged by a jigging hook, or they get entangled in strapping bands or nets. The consequences are usually disastrous.

This Steller is dealing with his entanglement but I hope he doesn’t grow too much bigger…

Education is a very important piece in preventing marine debris from getting into the ocean in the first place.It is often a difficult decision when to intervene because of the real possibility of an animal drowning when darting, and often the debris does break off on its own over time (ie many animals with scars from previous entanglements).

This is a recent snag. The animal is still healthy.

Please do what you can to ensure that plastics don’t escape into nature and that if you fish, do it far from marine mammals. The ocean is their home first.

 

 

 

 

 

This poor fellow has suffered for a while now.

Even a small hook can handicap a pinniped. This guy doesn’t put weight on the flipper and crawls around on his face. Likely this hook will tear out eventually.