Tag Archives: UBC

Rivers & Oceans

Fish fight over West Coast licences and quota resurfaces at federal committee

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Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A parliamentary committee investigating whether corporations and foreign owners have a stranglehold on Canadian fisheries is experiencing a serious case of deja vu. 

Witnesses speaking about the dire straits faced by commercial fish harvesters and coastal communities on the West Coast are raising the same issues first presented to the Standing Committee of Fisheries and Oceans (FOPO) starting in 2018. 

Continue reading Fish fight over West Coast licences and quota resurfaces at federal committee →
Animals, Forests

‘Birders, not blockaders’ ask B.C. to protect old-growth in Fairy Creek to save marbled murrelets

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Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Birders and biologists are banding together to urge the B.C. government to protect ancient forests on southwestern Vancouver Island in a bid to save threatened marbled murrelet nesting sites.

Around a dozen citizen scientists are documenting the rare robin-sized seabird, which raises its young in old-growth forest found in tree farm licence (TFL) 46, which includes the Fairy Creek region near Port Renfrew, said team leader and avid birder Royann Petrell.

Continue reading ‘Birders, not blockaders’ ask B.C. to protect old-growth in Fairy Creek to save marbled murrelets →
Health, Politics

Will BC Towns’ Bylaws Undermine Drug Decriminalization Pilot?

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The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

B.C.’s three-year pilot drug decriminalization program is aimed at reducing the barriers and stigma that prevent people from accessing life-saving supports and services. 

But since the possession of  small amounts of drugs was decriminalized on Jan. 31, some  municipalities have looked at bans on public drug use that advocates  warn undermine the provincial effort.

In Campbell River, the city decided to  implement its own bylaws three days before decriminalization took  effect, banning and ticketing public use of controlled substances. 

Continue reading Will BC Towns’ Bylaws Undermine Drug Decriminalization Pilot? →
Animals

The last 33 caribou: fighting for the survival of a Wet’suwet’en herd

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

There’s a serene pocket of mountainous habitat in northwest B.C. where 33 caribou live, drinking from glacial-fed creeks and grazing on alpine lichens. Though it’s peaceful, they have nowhere to go. They’re surrounded.

They’ve been cut off from where they gave birth to their young and the tracts of land that supported them through the long northern winters by highways, hydroelectric dams, rail lines, clearcuts and farmland. The herd’s range has been fragmented for more than a century and faces imminent threats.

Continue reading The last 33 caribou: fighting for the survival of a Wet’suwet’en herd →
Environment, Rivers & Oceans

The Race to Recover a Sunken Tanker Truck

Editor’s note: The vessel was recovered Friday afternoon. Guy Adams, owner of Marine Link Transportation, told My Campbell River Now that the tanks are now onshore and about 10% of the fuel leaked into the ocean. He aded that local First Nations were a crucial part of response and recovery efforts, pinpointing the sunken truck and monitoring environmental impacts.

By  Zak Vescera, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A mission is underway to recover a fuel truck holding 17,000 litres of diesel oil that rolled off a barge and sank off Vancouver Island last  week.

The Canadian Coast Guard  and other responders are trying to raise the truck that sank in the  Chancellor Channel about 55 kilometres north of Campbell River. 

An internal memo from the Transportation  Safety Board confirms the truck carried diesel oil. The federal  Department of Fisheries and Oceans confirmed the truck contained five  separate tanks, one of which is leaking.

Continue reading The Race to Recover a Sunken Tanker Truck →