By Melissa Renwick, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Tofino, BC – The west coast experienced some of its lowest tides of the year last week, leaving some intertidal animals vulnerable to the heat.
A recent series of events lined up to trigger a “tidal phenomenon” that resulted in an exaggerated tidal range, according to Denny Sinnott, a DFO supervisor for Tides Current and Water Levels.
Continue reading Drastic ocean level fluctuations impact intertidal species
It has been twelve months since billions of marine animals along the West Coast of British Columbia perished during a record breaking heat wave. Temperatures of between 35°C and 40°C were recorded at the Cortes Island School during the last five days of June.
Continue reading One year after the marine die-offUBC marine ecologist Dr. Chris Harley initially told the media that more than a billion mussels, clams, sea stars and other invertebrates may have cooked to death in the area between Campbell River and Washington state. That was a ‘back of the envelope’ estimate, based on his observations among the Lower Mainland’s mussel population and some preliminary reports. Harley has done a great deal more research since then. He now guesstimates that, conservatively speaking, the number of marine fatalities during last June’s heat wave is closer to 10 billion.
Continue reading Heat wave killed far more marine animals than originally thought, says scientistExtreme marine high temperature events, such as the one that killed more than a billion shellfish off the West Coast last June, will devastate global fisheries over the decades to come, a new UBC study suggests.
Continue reading Extreme marine heat events will devastate global fisheries in the coming decadesThere was a boat stranded in the sand, at Smelt Bay, on Saturday. The Woody Point’s anchor lay not too far distant, a testament to its owner’s original intention. The ocean was perhaps another hundred feet distant.
CKTZ News came to take pictures for another story. Thousands of mussels died on the exposed rocks at the southern side of the beach. They were presumably casualties of the heatwave that ravaged shellfish populations throughout the West Coast almost two weeks ago.
Continue reading Stranded in the heat, sand, and rocks
