Tag Archives: Smelt Bay

Campbell River, Cortes, Quadra – Cold snap impacts a house challenged population

The chill that started just before Christmas has been particularly hard on the house challenged population of Campbell River, Quadra island and Cortes island. 

Some people are living in uninsulated cabins, trailers, boats, cars and tents. 

Continue reading Campbell River, Cortes, Quadra – Cold snap impacts a house challenged population

Behind the scenes at BC Hydro repairs after recent ‘weather bomb’

CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

The historic storm that hit the Pacific Northwest region on Oct. 24 caused loss of power to tens of thousands of households across the province. The storm has been called a “weather bomb” by the Weather Network, and it set the record for lowest barometric pressure of 942.6 millibars recorded offshore near Tofino.

Cortes experienced one of the longest island-wide power outages in recent years, which lasted close to 48 hours in some neighbourhoods. Most people lost power early Sunday afternoon and waited until mid-morning on Tuesday for electricity that, in many cases, also enables running water.

Continue reading Behind the scenes at BC Hydro repairs after recent ‘weather bomb’

Heat wave killed far more marine animals than originally thought, says scientist

UBC marine ecologist Dr. Chris Harley initially told the media that more than a billion mussels, clams, sea stars and other invertebrates may have cooked to death in the area between Campbell River and Washington state. That was a ‘back of the envelope’ estimate, based on his observations among the Lower Mainland’s mussel population and some preliminary reports. Harley has done a great deal more research since then. He now guesstimates that, conservatively speaking, the number of marine fatalities during last June’s heat wave is closer to 10 billion.  

Continue reading Heat wave killed far more marine animals than originally thought, says scientist

Extreme marine heat events will devastate global fisheries in the coming decades

Extreme marine high temperature events, such as the one that killed more than a billion shellfish off the West Coast last June, will devastate global fisheries over the decades to come, a new UBC study suggests.

Continue reading Extreme marine heat events will devastate global fisheries in the coming decades

Heron Day on Cortes Island

CKTZ News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Cortes Island’s second annual Heron Day was Sunday, September 5th.

“Heron day is where we get a whole bunch of volunteers to go out in different spots around Cortes Island, at the same time, to count Heron,” explained Max Thaysen, President of the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI). “If we have multiple eyes counting at the same time, then we know we are not double counting heron that are cruising around the island.”

Continue reading Heron Day on Cortes Island