All posts by Rochelle Baker

Rochelle Baker is a staff reporter with Canada’s National Observer, thanks thanks to a grant from the Local Journalism Initiative of the Government of Canada. She previously worked as a newspaper reporter and photographer in BC’s Lower Mainland for over 7 years.

Rays of hope for kelp and climate in south Salish Sea

Editor’s note: Bull kelp grows from Alaska’s Aleutian Islands to Santa Barbara County in California. There is a lot of it around Vancouver Island, and in the waters off both Cortes and Quadra Islands.

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It’s not all doom and gloom for the rich underwater kelp forests in the southern Salish Sea struggling to weather increasingly warm oceans. 

Some pockets of bull kelp vital for sea life off southern Vancouver Island and B.C.’s Gulf Islands are proving to be resilient to rising sea temperatures and marine heat waves, a new University of Victoria study has found. 

Continue reading Rays of hope for kelp and climate in south Salish Sea

‘Here we are talking about drought in February’

Editor’s note: When the rains finally started in October 2022, Cortes Island had received very little precipitation for 97 days. That was the first year Basil Creek came close to drying up and only about 10 Chum were able to swim upstream to spawn. The creek almost disappeared during the 2023 drought and some of Cortes Island’s shallow wells stopped recharging. On Quadra Island, I-CAN’s water security team responded to the drought by launching a project to gather data on the island’s ‘water budget,’ wetlands and wells, so they can be better prepared for the future. With Vancouver Island’s snowpacks currently 70% below normal, we may need a wetter than normal spring and summer to avert another drought in 2024.

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Water security groups in B.C. are rallying to face another summer wracked by drought and wildfire after the province revealed the snowpack is 40 per cent lower than normal. And they are urging the provincial government to do the same. 

Extremely low snow levels across most of B.C., ongoing drought in certain areas of the province and unusually warm weather are increasing the risk of widespread drought and wildfire this spring and summer, according to the BC River Forecast Centre’s snow bulletin released Thursday. 

Continue reading ‘Here we are talking about drought in February’

Baby sockeye salmon are growing faster due to climate change. Is bigger better?

Editor’s note: Most of the salmon on Cortes Island are Chum, not Sockeye, but a DFO study of scale growth measurements from the Big Qualicum River suggests Chum are also being affected by climate change. Chum salmon appear to be growing smaller ‘due to increased ocean temperatures driven by climate changeand also the increased competition over a diminishing number of prey. There are also reports of them relocating to more northern locations. In October 2023, a University of Alaska study revealed that 100 Chum had been found in waters emptying into the Arctic Ocean. They were ‘either actively spawning or had finished spawning.’ Lead author Peter Wesley wrote, “Throughout most parts of the salmon’s range, things have gotten too warm and they’re starting to blink off. In the Arctic, the water is getting warm enough and they’re starting to blink on.”

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Climate change has tipped the scales, causing juvenile sockeye salmon in B.C. to grow bigger over the past century. 

The growth of salmon using lakes as nurseries during the first years of life in northern B.C. is about 35 per cent higher than 100 years ago, a new study from Simon Fraser University shows. 

Continue reading Baby sockeye salmon are growing faster due to climate change. Is bigger better?

BC Hydro must pay up for overcharging remote First Nations

Editors note: Though Hartley Bay is about 450 km north of us, in the Douglas Channel, there are aspects of the following article that should be of concern to all British Columbians. Firstly, what justification is there for a charge that only applies to First Nations communities and not neighbouring ‘non-Indigenous’ communities ‘in the same rate class.’ Secondly, even if there is a justification, why weren’t the First Nations consulted?

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

BC Hydro has been ordered to repay a small coastal First Nation more than $700,000 after unfairly charging them an extra annual fee for electricity for nearly a decade. 

The $85,000 yearly fee, embedded in a 2014 electricity service agreement between the utility company and the tiny Gitga’at First Nation of Hartley Bay, wasn’t approved and was ruled as “unjust, unreasonable and unduly discriminatory” by the province’s energy regulator this fall

Continue reading BC Hydro must pay up for overcharging remote First Nations

Salmon skyline takes wild coho conservation to new heights

Editor’s note: When the Chum runs were large enough, Cortes Island Streamkeepers harvested the eggs from Chum Salmon returning to Basil Creek and raised them in the Klahoose hatchery in 2020 and 2021. Very few salmon returned in 2022, so 50,000 Chum eggs were brought from the Tla’amin Fish Hatchery in Powell River. The following article illustrates the fact that DFO has been attempting to preserve salmon stocks in many areas.

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Winter sun backlighting their frosted breath, a dozen people trudge gingerly in the icy waters of the Trent River in search of salmon.   

Loaded with gear and armed with wooden poles, eyes down and intent, they test each step on slick rocks while navigating the currents swelled by November rains. 

Each fall, upwards of 25 volunteers join an expedition to a remote section of the Vancouver Island river to help the Courtenay Fish and Game Protective Association trap spawning coho to take back to its new hatchery at Comox Lake. 

Continue reading Salmon skyline takes wild coho conservation to new heights