Tag Archives: DFO

First Nations Call For Closure Of Shaw Point Salmon Farm

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Two First Nations are calling for the closure of a fish farm off the east coast of Vancouver Island following the escape of 1,000 Atlantic salmon into their territorial waters in May. The We Wai Kai and Wei Wai Kum nations want the immediate cancellation of Mowi Inc. tenure for its Shaw Point aquaculture operation, according to a statement issued by the Laich-Kwil-Tach Treaty Society on Thursday.

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Mansons Landing: Shoreline Of The Spit Is Eroding

The shoreline of the spit, in Manson’s Landing Park, is eroding.

Last summer BC Parks brought in Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Ltd (NHC) to investigate the causes and to develop viable engineering options to reduce erosion. On February 25, Grant Lamont of NHC unveiled his findings at a Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) meeting at Mansons Hall.

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Squirrel Cove Dock Restoration

Harbour Manager Jenny Hartwick described the pile driving procedure as every child’s fantasy of big machinery: loud noises and lots of smoke that comes billowing out. Small Craft Harbours informed Harbour Authority Cortes Island (HACI), who manages the dock, a year and a half ago. The Squirrel Cove dock restoration started on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 4th, 2020.

Canada

Last Fall’s Chum Returns On Cortes & Quadra

Last fall’s chum runs were poor throughout British Columbia. Wilf Luedke, the chief biologist for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, described reports from the Sooke River, on Vancouver Island, as “the worst yet.” On the Fraser River, the Alouette River Management Society counted 500 instead of the 60,000 they expected. The chum returns on Cortes & Quadra Cortes were dismal. 

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How The Basil Creek Culvert Project Is Over The Top

By the time you hear this, the Ministry of Transportation crew will have left Basil creek. As Cortes Streamkeeper Cecil Robinson observed, prior to this “if the fish came early and the rains were late, they just simply couldn’t get through the old culvert. They died right there.” Now more of them will swim upstream to their spawning grounds. Then he proceeded to describe how the “Basil Creek culvert project was over the top from the very beginning. Everything that needed to be done, is done: and then some more, always some more.”

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