Tag Archives: Die-offs

Cost of Climate Change

A billion marine creatures may have perished in the heat

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CKTZ News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Close to a billion marine creatures may have perished in BC’s recent heat wave. 

What happened? 

“We had some of the hottest weather we’ve ever had and it happened to be on days with very low, low tides and that combination was pretty lethal for a lot of things,” explained Dr Chris Harley, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia.

He said the one billion death estimate was obtained through calculations of mussel populations.  

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Cost of Climate Change

A billion tidal creatures likely baked to death

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The ecological devastation of B.C.’s recent heat wave is just starting to be understood after record temperatures paired with low tides wreaked havoc along the West Coast.

More than one billion marine intertidal animals may have perished along the shores of the Salish Sea during the record temperatures at the end of June, said University of British Columbia researcher Chris Harley.

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Rivers & Oceans

The Discovery Islands Sea Star Monitoring Program

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Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) has become the Hakai Institute‘s first partner in a new citizen science sea star monitoring program.

As Helen Hall, Executive Director of FOCI explained, “”We just launched a really exciting joint project with the Hakai Institute. They are initiating a project to monitor the health of Sea Stars in the Discovery Islands and we can contribute from Cortes Island.”

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Rivers & Oceans

Sea Stars – Wolves of the Ocean floor

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Kelly Fretwell from the Hakai Institute recently described sea stars as wolves of the ocean floor.

The topic came up when I mentioned that they prey upon the oysters in Gorge Harbour, on Cortes Island. 

Julia Rendall, President of the Bee Islets Growers Corporation, said they normally eat about a third of her crop. The bottom clusters are “all chewed, eaten.”  She remembers the summer that Sea Star Wasting Disease reached the Gorge.

“That was the year I had the very best harvest, for shuck oysters,” said Rendall … I got about $8,000 a raft instead of $5,000.”

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Animals

Number of Bee species dropping

By Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Almost a quarter of the estimated 20,000 bee species on Earth may be in decline, researchers have found. The January study is the first time the well-being of pollinators has been assessed on a global scale, with previous concerns of declining wild pollinator populations based on local or regional studies.

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