Tag Archives: Orca

Weekend Tallies

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I lost track of the number of visits by tour boats this long weekend. It was at least 50. An orca pod hard been somewhere off Sooke so all the boats went through and visited on the way back. Sunday afternoon the pod transited the edge of the reserve heading East towards Trial Island and Victoria. Consequently there have only been about 5 boats here today (the rain and fog might be contributing to that number). I had to phone one of the operators as one of their new operators was oblivious to the guidelines here in the reserve. They apologized and promised to have a word with him.

I asked a pleasure fish boat to cease fishing in the reserve, and he was happy to comply. Ignorance is so often a factor in issues of conservation and human impact.

I was lucky enough to see, but not photograph a Red Knot. This unusual shorebird is an infrequent visitor to our shore and is likely migrating to above the Arctic Circle. Several other unidentified solitary shorebirds have also been seen, and more California Sea Lions are showing up. The rain is much appreciated as no more than a few millimetres have fallen in almost 2 months.

Bird and Mammal Count

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At least 8 orcas passed by Race Rocks Sunday morning

For Sunday March 25:

Black Oyster Catcher (Haematopus bachmani): 7 pairs

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis): 3

Surfbirds (Aphriza virgata): 100+

Cormorants (Phalacrocorax penicilatu, P. pelagicus, and/or P.auritas): 200+

Gulls (mostly Larus glaucescens): 230+

Pigeon Guillemots (Cepphus columba): 30+

Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus): 5

Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina) : 30+ S islands

Northern Sea Lions (Eumetopisa jubatus): 14 S islands, 1 Middle Rocks

Elephant Seals (Mirounga angustirostris): 3 Middle Rocks, 1 Great Race

Orcas (Orcinus orca): 8 in the morning going E between S Islands and Rosedale Reef Buoy

Moulting elephant seal

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On Monday a young moulting female elephant seal showed up near the boat ramp. She spent a couple days on the jetty until a NE wind picked up. Squall is still on the S side of the house, she seems to be mostly finished moulting now.  This morning she was making her way N towards boat ramp but Misery perked up and growled, she turned back and stayed on the cistern.

On Monday around dusk a pod of about 7 orca whales passed by the S side of the reserve near the Rosedale Reef buoy.

It has been quite calm and clear the past few days but a 20 knot NE wind this morning.

orcas sighted again

Aside

The elephant seal was pretty vocal last night but there was no sign or sound of him today.  Yesterday at sunset I think I saw the horned owl on top of the flag pole. This morning several Bald Eagles were rounding up the gulls on great race.  Before noon a vessel from Pinnacle Divers came into the reserve.  They did a dive near the jetty and a second one off of the E rocks.  While unloading divers near the jetty the boat accidentally contacted the kelp bed off the NW side of the jetty.  I contacted the company by phone and left a message.  Around 14:00 hrs a Prince of Whales vessel entered the reserve.  There were around 30 Northern Sealions hauled out on N Rock.  On the vessels approach to N Rock some sealions exited into the water.  I contacted the company by phone and spoke with a staff member.   Around 14:30 hrs 3 or more Orcas approached the reserve from the SW passing W of the reserve heading N.  Have been gathering scrap wood, propane tanks, garbage etc. today for offloading tomorrow with a boat trip from the college planned for the morning.

Transient and resident orcas and humpbacks!!

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Transient & Resident orcas as well as Humpback whales brought eco-tour vessels from all over the Salish Sea to Race Rocks today. 41 vessels were counted as of 15:00. A maximum of 12 vessels were in the reserve at any one time. The manoeuvring and repositioning of 20+ vessels in Race Passage and surrounding the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve was enough at times to drown out the sea gulls and sea lions on Great Race.
The Vancouver-based Vancouver Whale Watching had two boats transit the reserve in pursuit of both orcas and humpbacks. A spokesperson for Vancouver Whale Watching indicated that their vessels do not pursue or chase the whales, they are there to watch them. The Explorathor Express and Explorathor II both entered the reserve from the W (watching whales from behind) as the orcas and humpbacks transited W to E through the N and S ends of the reserve.
The Peregrine, a Washington-based ecotour vessel followed the pattern of the previous two boats.
I am happy to report that local eco-tours showed respect for the Ecological Reserve and did not enter the waters surrounding Race Rocks when the whales were present.
The FastCat vessel however did not wait until it was 400 yards away from Great Race before exceeding 7 knots as it exited the reserve to watch whales as they moved East. There were 41 visitors to the island today.

Orcas in area

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A transient bull passed through Rosedale Reef this afternoon. I was informed by Straitwatch that 6 more transients passed by earlier.
California Sea Lion: 35
Northern Sea Lion: 5

Human Interaction:
At 1202hrs PDT a red eco-tour RHIB was spotted pulling up kelp on the W side of the South Rocks kelp bed. No kelp was cut although kelp was certainly pulled onboard the vessel for examination before being released. The license number of the vessel was CO2242BC with the name \”Kodiak\”. Photos are on file.

Eco tour traffic

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California Sea Lion: 7
# of sealions at the NE haul out (first of a series of daily reports).
 Saw an abalone for the first time in 3 years while on a dive today.

Human Interaction
At 0829hrs PDT a floatplane flew under 1000 ft from E to W over Rosedale Reef.
A pod of orcas passed through Race Passage (W to E) this afternoon. At one point, at least 15 whale watching vessels were in pursuit. Subsequently, heavy eco-tour traffic was experienced in the Reserve this afternoon. Most vessels respected established guidelines, but there were a few notable exceptions:
1. Birds of a Feather approached within 100 metres of California sea lions hauled out near the jetty. The sealions did not upset as there was already activity on the jetty.
2. A vessel from Seaquest based out of Sidney was observed speeding into the east side of the Reserve, well within the limits of the 7 knot speed restriction, then later observed speeding out in the same direction.
3. Several other vessel were observed speeding within the boundaries of the Reserve, either to obtain a better vantage point for viewing whales or to shorten travel time to the whales once the whales had moved well past Race Rocks.
Luke came out to RR to dive this afternoon with Adam to help take measurements of the materials testing platform and for pleasure. Erik and Hao also arrived as did a contact from \”The Big Blue Technologies\” of Victoria and his two young kids.

There were 6 visitors to the island today.

Orcas again

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Mid-morning (exact time n/r) a small aluminum vessel with 4 persons on board entered the main channel and transited W to E to the NE corner of Great Race at which point they proceeded to throttle up, maneuver around the kelp beds and out of the Reserve.
At 1350hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with 4 persons on board was spotted fishing in a line drawn directly westward from North Race. A license number was not recorded.
At 1357hrs PDT a vessel was spotted transiting the west side of the Reserve at high speed (14K 27490).
At 1357hrs PDT a fibreglass vessel (WN 0516 NH) was spotted fishing on the W side of Great Race within the limits of the RCA. This incident was reported to the DFO Fisheries Violation Reporting Hotline.
Ecotour infractionAt 1425hrs PDT a pod of orcas passed over Rosedale Reef from E to W. A whale watching boat(red/orange RHIB, name not visible)previously outside the Reserve and following the whales, approached within 100 metres of the pod and followed the whales into the Reserve. As the whales passed through the Reserve, the vessel headed south towards the green buoy but ultimately passed on the Reserve side of the buoy. This action is in violation of the PWWA guidelines stating that eco-tour vessel operators must not follow whales into the Reserve. Photos of the incident were taken.
At 1430hrs PDT, Chris, Garry, Andrew and son, two photographers and an employee from the Development Office arrived at RR for a tour/meeting.


There were 7 visitors to the island today.

 

Posted by Adam Harding

orcas behave, people don’t

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Orca: 6 A pod of around 6-8 orcas passed W to E through Rosedale Reef this morning.
California Sea Lion: 1
Orca: 8 At 2025hrs PDT a pod of orcas was spotted heading E to W through Race Passage against the flood current. Seven eco-tour boats were in pursuit.

At 0835hrs PDT a Pat Bay Air floatplane flew over Great Race at less than 1000 ft, entering from a direction WNW and exiting E. The aircraft license number was C-FGLU.

At approximately 1135hrs PDT an OBMG rental boat was found to be intermittently maneuvering unnecessarily in the main channel west of Great Race, and to the SW corner of Great Race. The vessel made a pattern of slowing down, speeding up, slowing down, speeding up. Two persons on board, license number 14K37828.

At 1259hrs PDT a pleasure vessel passed over Rosedale Reef at high speed in a direction W to E. No license number or photos obtained.

At 1845hrs PDT a white fibreglass vessel with three persons (man, woman, child) on board was spotted fishing in the RCA in the vicinity of the tidal turbine. The name was “The Liquidator” and the license #6K155545. The incident was reported to DFO and by 1858hrs PDT the vessel had departed in the direction of Beecher Bay.