Category Archives: Rivers & Oceans

Animals, Rivers & Oceans

Monitoring Dungeness Crab larvae in Cortes Bay

Last April, Cortes Island became part of an international monitoring project for Dungeness crab larvae. There were 20 light trap stations in the Salish Sea and 17 in the Puget Sound. Three of these traps were within our  listening area. Surge Narrows School had a trap on Read Island. The Hakai Institute and Quadra Island community had another on Quadra Island. Kate Maddigan and Mike Moore coordinated volunteers looking after the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) trap in Cortes Bay. 

Continue reading Monitoring Dungeness Crab larvae in Cortes Bay →
Rivers & Oceans, Transportation

BC Ferries new Mate: Mike Moore

Last month, a number of Cortes Island residents recognized a familiar face directing traffic at the Whaletown Ferry terminal. Mind you, Mike Moore is better known from the days he sailed the Misty Isles than as the Mate on a BC Ferry. He was in Alert Bay when Cortes Currents caught up to him, but let’s go back to the beginning. 

Continue reading BC Ferries new Mate: Mike Moore →
Rivers & Oceans, Tourism

Prince Rupert gets a $3.5 million boost from the return of cruise tourism

By Kaitlyn Bailey, Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After two years without any cruise ships in Prince Rupert due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cruise tourism returned bigger than before.

Between May 17 and Oct. 3, 42 cruise ships with more than 40,000 passengers stopped in the city, the P.R. Port Authority (PRPA) announced.

Continue reading Prince Rupert gets a $3.5 million boost from the return of cruise tourism →
Energy, Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Tensions rise as Coastal GasLink blasts a creek near a Wet’suwet’en camp

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Less than one kilometre from a Wet’suwet’en camp and village site, where cabins, tiny homes and a feast hall provide space for ceremony, cultural practices and opportunities to reconnect with the land, is a vast muddy clearing, guarded by private security workers. 

Here, the path of the Coastal GasLink pipeline crosses Ts’elkay Kwe (Lamprey Creek), a tributary of Wedzin Kwa (Morice River). This work requires digging a trench right through the creek to bury the pipe under it.

Ts’elkay Kwe is a known spawning channel for steelhead trout trout and other species, including coho salmon, according to a 2007 land-use plan. But steelhead and salmon throughout the watershed are in decline, in part due to widespread clearcut logging and climate change.

Continue reading Tensions rise as Coastal GasLink blasts a creek near a Wet’suwet’en camp →
Rivers & Oceans

Tri-Cities’ salmon return by storm

By Patrick Penner, Tri-Cities Dispatch, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Salmon have returned to the Tri-Cities’ by storm, literally.

The Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) said returning fish were spotted at four locations in the Tri-Cities over the last week: Noons Creek, Hoy Creek, Oxbow channel off the Coquitlam River, and Hyde Creek.

Continue reading Tri-Cities’ salmon return by storm →