Category Archives: Rivers & Oceans

Our neighbours, Pacific White Sided Dolphins – to cull or cultivate?

There have been numerous reports of Pacific White Sided Dolphins in our vicinity this past year. The most recent came from Powell River, where pods of around 200 dolphins were spotted from the shore on December 17th and again on December 28th. One of the reports from Campbell River mentioned more than 100 swimming through Discovery Passage. On their website, Wildwaterways Adventures describes this species in its list of wildlife that fill the Discovery Islands. According to the Times Colonist, “After 100 years of absence, large numbers of Pacific White Sided Dolphins are back in the northern part of British Columbia’s Salish Sea.” 

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Who gets to fish for B.C. salmon in the future?

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The West Coast’s commercial salmon fleet is clearly in the midst of transformative change.  

Ottawa has shuttered approximately 60 per cent of B.C.’s commercial fisheries since 2021 and last month launched a licence buyback program to lure fish harvesters to exit the industry to protect plummeting salmon stocks. 

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Humpback whales are riding a crosscurrent of hope and concern

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It was a good news, bad news year for humpback whales residing in the Salish Sea on the West Coast.

Nearly 400 humpbacks were sighted in 2022, the highest number on record, said researcher Tasli Shaw, project lead for Humpback Whales of the Salish Sea (HWSS), which identifies and catalogues marine mammals in the region

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From fish to forests, how 2022 played out on Canada’s West Coast

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As the year’s climate-related gains and catastrophes wrap, Canada’s National Observer is reviewing the top five stories to make waves in B.C.’s coastal and island communities in 2022. 

First Nations, forests and fish-related news surfaced as some top issues from CNO’s Island Insider beat, and are likely to dominate headlines in the new year as well. 

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The story behind the Tire Islet clean-up

A waste education program from Powell River recently cleaned up an islet that was partially buried under tires. Cortes Currents re-published the story from qathet Living and that probably would have ended the matter, except some of you had questions. The biggest one was something between shock and disbelief that such a beautiful Islet had actually been turned into a tire dump. So Cortes Currents asked Abby McLennan of Let’s Talk Trash for an interview. 

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