Category Archives: Rivers & Oceans

Animals, Rivers & Oceans

Our Grey Whales Are Getting Smaller

There are several whale watching companies in our area and one of the treats they offer are Grey Whale sightings. Campbell River, Cortes and Quadra Islands are in the middle of a migration route. Thousands of  Grey Whales pass through BC, en route to Alaska, during the spring and return in the fall, while heading for the warm waters of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. Most appear to go by the west coast of Vancouver Island, but there are also sightings in our area. About 240 Grey Whales spend their entire summer feeding in the shallow waters of BC and Washington state. They are often close enough to the shore to be seen from the land. However few people seem to have noticed that they are getting smaller. 

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Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

The Uncertain future of Salmon Farms in British Columbia

The future of fish farms in British Columbia is uncertain. On June 7, Judge Paul Favel supported the Ministry of Fisheries decision to not renew the licenses of 15 fish farms in the Discovery Islands, and denied a joint application by industry and the Laich-kwil-tach Nation for a judicial review. At the end of this month the licenses of the remaining 66 fish farms still operating in this province will expire. 

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Rivers & Oceans, Waste

The Island-wide 2024 Beach Clean-up on Cortes

The first truckload was filled over the roofline with beach debris. Sam Gibb drove into the Klahoose village shortly after 10:30 AM on Saturday. Alex Bernier, followed with a smaller load. Helen Hall and Autumn Barrett Morgan, two other members of the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI), were there to help them unload. Stephanie Valdal, Services Coordinator for the Comox Strathcona Waste Management Service, had come from Courtenay. The debris collected by Klahoose Aquaculture had not yet arrived. By the time the month long Cortes Island wide beach clean-up officially ended, on Sunday, there was a bin full of beach debris. This year’s clean-up was a collaborative initiative between Klahoose Aquaculture, FOCI, the Ocean Legacy Foundation and Comox Strathcona Waste Management Service.  

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Rivers & Oceans

‘Come with us’: Expedition explores new ocean floor developments at Juan de Fuca Ridge

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

On Wednesday, June 6, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) and Ocean Exploration Trust departed from Sydney, BC on their annual 21-day expedition, where the team could be the first to lay eyes on a newly formed ocean floor.

In early March a series of more than 200 earthquakes per hour, referred to as an earthquake swarm, was detected at a depth of five kilometers and roughly 240 kilometers offshore of Vancouver Island at the Juan de Fuca Ridge site. The earthquakes reached a magnitude of 4.1.

“The spike of earthquake activity at the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge could be a sign of an ‘impending magmatic rupture’,” reads a statement from ONC, quoting marine seismology PhD candidate Zoe Krauss. “A natural phenomena that can form new ocean floor.” 

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