Tag Archives: North Island

Rivers & Oceans

Quadra Island Streamkeepers protect wild salmon

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Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

With just a little bit of arm flailing and much nonchalance, Frank Gleeson regains his balance after slipping on a wet rock lodged in a steep embankment along Village Bay Creek.

Gleeson and his buddy, Pete Calverley, continue to clamber over and under trees, scramble up slopes and wade through underbrush in their search for spawning salmon.

Gleeson and Calverley, aged 71 and 78, descend into a clearing at the creek’s edge and excitedly point out about 45 chum salmon milling not far from shore.

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Rivers & Oceans

Oyster Farmers taking a beating

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Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Oyster farmers know grit can make for a good pearl. But shellfish farmer Victor McLaggan’s tenacity is being tested as the pandemic continues to hobble the restaurant industry, the main source of his income. McLaggan’s niche market is selling direct to high-end restaurants across Canada, ones with tide-to-table ethics that want to know exactly where their product is coming from. But like most producers of smaller live oysters destined for the half shell, McLaggan says he’s taking a beating as COVID-19 protocols continue to force eateries to limit operations or shut their doors altogether.

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Politics

Election 2020: Forestry and fish are key issues in North Island riding

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Forestry and fish are playing out as pivotal B.C. election issues in the North Island, as two party leaders paid a visit to the riding in the final week of their campaigns.

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Rivers & Oceans

Pacific Salmon Explorer: tool to help protect BC salmon

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A groundbreaking online tool that illustrates the state of Pacific salmon across B.C. aims to help protect endangered populations and drive future conservation efforts. The Pacific Salmon Explorer is a public data-visualization site that people can use to see what types of salmon are returning to a given area and find available data on the health of the population and the cumulative habitat pressures the fish may be facing.

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Rivers & Oceans

Straitwatch: the Discovery Island’s ‘whale police’

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A putrid stink wafts across the water and engulfs the Straitwatch vessel floating off the southern end of Quadra Island.

The Zodiac’s operator, Alex Forman, wrinkles his nose at the odour that hangs in the air, strongly reminiscent of fermented garbage.

“Whale breath,” he explains. “Humpbacks don’t brush their teeth much.”

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