Category Archives: Rivers & Oceans

Environment, Rivers & Oceans

Marine heatwaves a threat to B.C.’s shellfish industry says expert

Leave a comment

By Mick Sweetman,  CHLY 101.7 FM Nanaimo, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

This summer was hot, not only for us, but also for the life in our oceans as marine heatwaves swamped B.C’s coastal waters. According to researchers, sea temperatures off northeastern Vancouver Island reached 21 degrees Celsius in July, boiling kelp alive.

In the first week of August the average global sea surface temperature reached a record-breaking 30 degrees Celsius.

Continue reading Marine heatwaves a threat to B.C.’s shellfish industry says expert →
Animals, Rivers & Oceans

Will the heavy rains come in time for this year’s Chum run in Basil Creek?

Leave a comment

Very little water is trickling through Basil Creek, where Cortes Island’s principal Chum run occurs in late October. There have been few days of rain on Cortes since May, and some of the area’s shallow wells stopped producing in July. Only about 10 Chum were seen in Basil Creek during the 2022 drought. Unless water levels rise, this may be the second year in a row when there is not a significant creek for the Chum return. 

According to the Pacific Salmon Foundation, BC is going through ‘one of the most extreme periods of drought in recorded history.’ 

Continue reading Will the heavy rains come in time for this year’s Chum run in Basil Creek? →
Politics, Rivers & Oceans

The future of 3 wharves within Area C

Leave a comment

It has been nine years Transport Canada (TC) transferred administration of three wharves in Discovery Islands-Mainland Inlets (Area C) to the Strathcona Regional District (SRD). The SRD was also given $2.9 Million for maintenance and upgrades that were to be completed before November 2024. The work was not done and now the cost of upgrading the wharves Owen Bay on Sonora Island, Surge Narrows on Read Island, and Port Neville on the northern shore of the Johnstone Strait, has risen.  

Continue reading The future of 3 wharves within Area C →
Animals, Rivers & Oceans

Holy Mola! That’s a big fish!

Leave a comment

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Sunfish sightings continue to surface on the West Coast and — Holy Mola! — some examples are pretty big ones. 

Jackie Hildering was astonished by a recent photo depicting an enormous Mola mola submitted to the Marine Education Resource Society citizen science project, which is collecting data on two different species of sunfish along the Pacific Coast.  

Continue reading Holy Mola! That’s a big fish! →
Food, Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Paul Muskee on Klahoose Aquaculture & QXMC

Paul Muskee has been working for QXMC for close to 15 years and for the last decade has been with Klahoose Aquaculture.

“I feel like my life has led me this way. When I was younger, I did work in aquaculture and I did work in forestry. I was also a mining technologist for a bunch of years, but I grew up  around Powell River, Lund and Desolation Sound.  Running boats has always been part of what I’ve done. I’ve loved working for Klahoose. They’ve been a great employer and I really like the people I’ve work with,” he explained.  

Continue reading Paul Muskee on Klahoose Aquaculture & QXMC →