National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Marine heat waves, ocean acidification, toxic algae blooms.
B.C. oyster farmer Steve Pocock said he can’t see many upsides for shellfish aquaculture when it comes to dealing with the effects of climate change.
Continue reading Not many upsides for shellfish aquacultureCanada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Cynthia Bendickson believes an ecological battle along the inside passage of Vancouver Island is looming. It’s not a question of if, but when the invasive European green crab will land on the shorelines of the Salish Sea, says the biologist and executive director of the Greenways Land Trust.
Continue reading Coming Soon: the European Green CrabCanada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Editor’s note: According to the BC Shellfish Growers Association: “the most prolific areas for shellfish farming have been Baynes Sound, Cortes Island and Okeover Inlet.” The Shellfish industry is one of Cortes Island’s largest employers. Twenty-two people were working at Island Seafarms when the COVID crises began and a skeleton crew is preparing for next year. There are also a number of independent contractors in the Bee Islet Growers Corporation, in Gorge Harbour, and other lease holders around the island.
A Vancouver Island researcher is developing an early warning system to prevent the contamination of farmed oysters along B.C.’s west coast, which can cost the industry millions.
Continue reading Early Warning System For farmed OystersThe Cortes community is in various levels of emergency mode: the climate emergency has moved many people to increase their local self-reliance. Community non-profits like the Cortes Community Economic Development Association, the Friends of Cortes Island Society and Climate Hope are organizing to relocalize essential needs like food production.
And then the covid-19 pandemic came along with its own challenges to the established modern food systems – bacon is under threat.
Continue reading The Humble Cortes Island Shellfish FarmerOriginally posted on Cortes Radio.ca
Mike Moore obviously has an intense passion for the ocean and for the waters around Cortes Island in particular. He has been working on the water or under it for more than 40 years, as a commercial halibut, crab and prawn fisherman, as a diver harvesting sea cucumbers, sea urchins, scallops and the giant pacific octopus, as a Navigation Officer with the Canadian Coast Guard for 11 years and finally, along with Samantha Statton, he was owner/ operator of Misty Isles Adventures, Cortes Island’s kayaking and passenger schooner tourism business, which was the vessel by which many tourists and locals got to appreciate Cortes as an island, seen from the water.
Continue reading Mike Moore Talks About The Waters Around Cortes Island
