Tag Archives: Island Sea Farms

Business, Community

Potential Land Use Issue at Evans Bay, Read Island

The text of Lannie Keller’s Tuesday, March 11 presentation made to the Electoral Areas Services Committee

I’m here to present local concerns and request SRD’s help to avert a land use conflict and a Bylaw zoning violation at Read Island.  

To begin, I’m grateful to live in unceded traditional territory of the Homalco and Klahoose First Nations. And for the wild beauty of this place.

We moved to Read Island in 1980, and have made our living creating and running (what is now) Canada’s longest operating kayak touring company from our home in Evans Bay. Coast Mountain Expeditions has become Read Island’s largest employer. We offer activities based on wilderness ambience – all in this local area. Our business is threatened by Island Sea Farm’s Aquaculture License #1401594, conditionally approved by the province in June 2023. 

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Politics

Area C Director’s Report: Tyee Plaza parking, aquaculture regulation & more

From the desk of Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney

Hello! Here’s a short interruption in your gardening, beach walking, and sun-drenched busyness: a summer SRD update.

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Food, Rivers & Oceans

Oysters: Unsung climate heroes for your holiday buffet

Editor’s note: Shellfish harvesting is one of Cortes Island’s largest employers. According to Paul Muskee, Klahoose Aquaculture probably employs ‘about 20 different people between Klahoose and Islanders.’ While Cortes Currents has not seen any recent numbers, Island Sea Farms employed 21 people when COVID broke out. Erik Lyon, President of the Bee Islets Growers Corporation, in Gorge Harbour, said there are about 10 lease holders in his organization. In previous articles, Rochelle has identified the Steve Pocock mentioned in the following article as both a Read Island grower and a Quadra Island grower. (These are not mutually exclusive statements.) Oysters are a significant local business on Quadra and Read Islands and there are numerous shore leases around all three Discovery Islands.

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

There are moments when Steve Pocock questions the wisdom of his chosen profession as a shellfish farmer.

Picking oysters off a beach in the dead of night during a low winter tide, then navigating whiteout conditions to get a loaded vessel home to port, while freezing and weary, is one of those times.

However, his disillusionment is short-lived when he hits mirrored waters at daybreak. Odds are he’ll also cross paths with orcas, bald eagles or sea lions during the morning commute.

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Transportation

Ferry Advisory Committee: Cortes and Quadra talk to BC Ferries

Cortes Island’s Ferry Advisory committee met (via Webex, a Zoom-like conferencing app) on the afternoon of Wednesday September 27th at 12:30pm. The meeting had originally been scheduled as a “town hall” style event at Mansons Hall; however, at the last minute BC Ferries announced that their FAC meetings would be held online, due to threats of violence from the public.

Though such threatening behaviour seemed unlikely on Cortes Island, BCF’s policy apparently applies across the board. The last-minute change of venue caused some confusion, but approximately thirty people joined the videoconference call on Wednesday (including BC Ferries staff and FAC members).

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Forests, Rivers & Oceans

Environmental concerns about the Gorge Harbour log dump

When a large volume of logs were dumped in Gorge Harbour, during the 1970s and 80s, they caused extensive damage to the underwater environment.

One of the questions raised at Mosaic’s Cortes Island ZOOM meeting, last January, revolved around the possibility that reactivating the log dump could also have negative impacts. Mike Moore dove beneath the log dump about fifteen years ago. At that time, he observed a thick layer of wood debris and sediments, covered by ‘bacterial mats.’ Moore was concerned about the possibility a new disturbance of the sediments could pollute nearby shellfish operations. 

Continue reading Environmental concerns about the Gorge Harbour log dump →