Shark Attack

Nelson & dogfish shark - photo by Mistin Wilkinson

Shark attacks make for some of the most dramatic news stories around the world and this summer was no exception with Australia, Florida and South Africa continuing to be the most common locations where they seem to occur though there were also reports from Hawaii and California. But, as dramatic as they are, on average only 75 attacks are actually reported each year and only 1/3 of them ever end up being fatal.  This is because most of the time the shark attacks are unprovoked and, in a case of mistaken identity, referred to as "hit and run" or "bite and run" the shark does a quick test and quickly determines the human isn't worth eating.

Not all sharks are created equal and out of nearly 500 species in the world it's really only the Great White Shark, Bull Shark and Tiger Shark that are responsible for fatal unprovoked attacks. On the other hand thousands of people die every day by drowning and that of course hardly ever makes the news. While there are 14 different shark species found in B.C. waters, including the Great White, there have never been any recorded shark attacks and encounters of any kind are rare.

Salmon shark - photo by Andy Murch

Not surprisingly the salmon shark is one of the most common sharks in B.C. and, while they can be up to 10 feet in length and 450 lbs in weight, they are fortunately primarily only interested in salmon. The rare and intriguing 6 gill shark can get up to 15-20 feet in length but, because of the great depths in which it normally dwells, it's usually only encountered by scuba divers and it prefers to eat small fish and crabs. But the most common shark of all is the dogfish shark and this is what came across my path the other morning as I was about to start my swim.

Nelson petting a six gill shark - photo by Peter Mieras

Called the dogfish because they hunt in packs like dogs, this shark can travel in schools of hundreds of individuals and is the most abundant shark in the world. Typically around 3-4 feet in length it only eats small fish and is not considered dangerous though it does have slightly poisonous dorsal fin spines. In England they are very popular for fish and chips but here they are labelled trash fish and usually thrown back in the water by fishermen because there's little or no demand for them.

Dennis & Nelson with dogfish shark - photo by Mistin Wilkinson

A little bit of trick photography and positioning made the dogfish shark look a lot bigger than it actually was which I suppose feeds off the drama these creatures continue to attract when in actual fact they are under severe threat of extinction thanks to the wasteful and horrific practise of "finning" that goes on around the world.  How this dogfish ended up on shore is a bit of a mystery but at least its fins were still intact and Dennis and I weren't in any mortal danger going for our swim. Ironically it's fear of shark attacks that keeps people out of the ocean, where of course they could drown without the right training or equipment, so perhaps we should thank the sharks for keeping us safe.

Fly Little Purple Bird Fly

Purple Martin in Silva Bay, Gabriola Island

At selected moorages, predominantly along the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, there's a delightful little bird that can be observed constantly flying around and going in and out of little nest boxes that have been mounted on pilings.  It's called a Purple Martin, and it has a remarkable story that I have to share with everyone simply because these birds are so captivating.  In fact I was so charmed by them I built one of the nest boxes just for something to do one day without even realizing I was unwittingly participating in a program that had been established to bring them back from near extinction.

Nesting pair of Purple Martins in Silva Bay

Purple Martins are the largest swallow in North America and, while their range extends throughout most of the continent, the extreme range of the western sub-species is the Georgia Strait basin. Historically Purple Martins nested in woodpecker holes in old trees and old pilings but, as all these habitats slowly disappeared, along with competition from European starlings and house sparrows, their numbers began to rapidly decline until, by the 1980's, there were less than 10 breeding pairs in the area. In 1986 a volunteer based nest-box program got started and the population has steadily increased since to where there are now 1,000 nesting pairs in the Georgia Strait basin.

Incredibly agile, high speed acrobats, these birds have been a favourite of farmers and Native North Americans since day one thanks to their voracious appetite for insects. In the 1960's a conservation movement to promote the Purple Martin as a natural insect control agent, instead of using pesticides, got the nest box program started with a slogan "Two thousand mosquitoes a day" and there are now over a million nest boxes in North America. In the 1980's the invasion of non-native European starlings and house sparrows caused a severe population crash across North America as the Purple Martins got pushed out of their own habitat and they are now almost completely dependant on the artificial nest boxes for their survival.

Purple Martin colony in Tod Inlet

Without the nest boxes the Purple Martins wouldn't survive and without the Purple Martins we would have to put up with a lot more insects than we would like, especially in an anchorage. On the west coast the the preferred location for these boxes is over open water on abandoned pilings in groups of five. They make for a very photogenic installation and, all day you can watch the parents darting in and out of their house as they take turns providing fresh food for the insatiable babies inside.

Purple Martin pair and fledgling in Silva Bay

In the winter the Purple Martins migrate to South America where they soak up the sun east of the Andes in Columbia, Bolivia and Brazil.  They roost in large groups with as many as 5,000 reported on one site in Brazil. There was already an established colony on the dock at Silva Bay on Gabriola Island but, at the end of the nesting season, I decided to put up a nest box to see what would happen. Sure enough when I returned to Silva Bay in late spring I was pleased to see it had been occupied and the parents were busy teaching the babies to speak Spanish.

Nelson installing a Purple Martin nest box in Silva Bay

A symbiotic success story between Mankind and Nature isn't something that happens very often so it's nice to be part of something that's good for everyone, except of course the insects!!! The birds are heading back to South America now after a great summer of warm weather and feasting. Over the winter people are invited to build more nest boxes and wait for the little purple birds to fly back. Check the link below for more information.

http://www.georgiabasin.ca/puma.htm

All Purple Martin photos by Junie Quiroga

All Washed Up

Another washed up sailboat on Sunset Beach - photo by Junie Quiroga

A little stronger than usual northwester blew into town in the past few weeks keeping gale force winds going for quite a few days. The end result of course was a few more sail boats being washed up on shore and more headaches for owners and the coast guard to deal with. Sometimes the boats can be salvaged other times not.

Washed up Q52 buoy on wrong side of False Creek channel - photo by Junie Quiroga

Proof that it was a little nastier than expected was the washing up of starboard navigational buoy Q52 to the opposite side of where it's supposed to be at the entrance to False Creek These indispensable aids to mariners are specially designed and installed to never move so it was quite a surprise to see this happen, not to mention the fact the buoy itself was now creating a hazard to boaters not familiar with what side the hidden rocks are actually located.

Washed up English Bay slide - photo by Junie Quiroga

But strangest of all was to see the English Bay summer slide (that had just been put in place) washed up on the high water mark of the beach. Somehow it had torn free from all 4 of its moorings. Fortunately these things eventually all got fixed but you could definitely say the start of summer was all washed up.

Wishin' & Hopin'

Mother Goose & her goslings - photo by Junie Quiroga

Every spring Mother Nature brings us fresh evidence of her endless effort to ensure survival, regardless of species, in both the plant and animal kingdoms. Baby seals appear in the ocean, flowers start to bloom, and recently hatched little ducklings wander about under the careful watch of their mothers.  Nothing is more adorable than a baby and nothing is more upsetting than a mother whose baby is being threatened.

Mother Duck and her ducklets - photo by Junie Quiroga

While some mothers in the Lagoon are happily enjoying their new offspring there's a mother swan left all alone to wonder yet again what has gone wrong in her world in spite of having done all the right things. Every year Mrs. Swan carefully builds a nest with her mate and lays a few eggs but every year they either don't hatch or else simply disappear. Everyone else in the neighbourhood has a spring baby why can't she?

Mute Swan alone on her empty nest - photo by Junie Quiroga

The culprit isn't any of the other creatures in the Park or surrounding waterways but the Parks Board staff themselves. They have taken it upon themselves to single out the swans for systematic extinction and they do this each year by either addling/shaking any eggs that are laid or simply removing them, causing incredible stress to the birds in the process. From the dozens of pairs of swans that used to exist in Lost Lagoon there are only 2 pairs now remaining.

Mute Swan - photo by Junie Quiroga

These beautiful birds (properly known as Mute swans) are the most photographed creatures in Lost Lagoon, but have been deemed an invasive pest by Environment Canada. Introduced to North America in the 19th century Mute swans have rapidly expanded their population to the point of displacing the native Trumpeter swans, which the Parks Board would rather see in the Lagoon. Both are roughly the same size with the main difference being the colour of their beaks; the Trumpeter's is black while the Mute's is orange.

Trumpeter Swan

Regardless of how the Mute swan got established, they are here to stay, just like the Red Eared Slider turtles, another so-called invasive species that have taken over in the Lagoon. I don't see the Parks Board doing anything to wipe out these professional sunbathers and, even more ironic, is the Parks Board's active participation in a breeding program for Beluga whales which are definitely not a native species to Vancouver.

Red Eared Slider Turtles sun-tanning in Lost Lagoon - photo by Junie Quiroga

Managing Mute swans is one thing and now that we are down to only 4 I think we could allow a few cygnets to see the light of day. People need to register a protest with the Parks Board. In the meantime it's another year of wishing and hoping on the part of the mother swan and another year of wishing and hoping the Parks Board comes to its senses.

Mute swan with baby cygnets

Cum On Feel The Noize

Dead Fin whale in Vancouver harbour - photo by Belle Puri

A fin whale arrived in Vancouver harbour last weekend but unfortunately it was already dead when it was discovered floating around the docks. According to officials it had been struck by a luxury cruise ship somewhere off the northern end of Vancouver Island, and carried all the way back on the bow of the boat. Ironically, this cruise ship, Seven Seas Navigator, bills itself as a wildlife sightseeing vessel that takes passengers on tours in the waters between Vancouver Island and Alaska.

Seven Seas Navigator

Strange as it may seem this is apparently the 3rd time since the 1990's that a fin whale has been dragged like this into the Vancouver harbour and you wonder how many other whales have been hit and simply sank or washed ashore. While I appreciate the difficulty captains of these large ships have in avoiding objects not in their size class you would think something as large as a fin whale would show up on their sonar before they collided and that someone would have noticed a whale stuck on the bow as they cruised along. After all a fin whale is the second largest animal after the blue whale and grows to a length of over 80 feet.

Fin whale on the surface

Conversely, how is it these gentle giants aren't able to stay out of the way of a cruise ship? Long and sleek, these baleen whales are often referred to as the "greyhound of the seas" for their shape and speed which can exceed 20 knots. Like so many other species of whales they were hunted nearly to extinction (after close to a million had been killed) until the 1975 ban on whaling came into effect and, while they have since somewhat recovered to a worldwide population of around 100,000 they are still considered an endangered species.

Fin whale under water

Perhaps the most logical answer is the unfortunate whale didn't even hear the ship coming and just happened to be in the wrong place while taking a nap.  There's growing evidence the increase in ocean noise from modern shipping and naval activity is affecting the hearing of all marine mammals, particularly whales, and even affecting their ability to mate. Fin whales in particular transmit long, low frequency mating calls that in earlier times could be heard thousands of miles away under water but are now reduced to a much shorter distance due to all the background noise in the ocean.

Hearing Damage Chart

Much more serious however is the effect of U.S.& NATO naval sonar testing which is causing death and mass strandings wherever this testing is being conducted.  For humans any noise level over 85 decibels requires hearing protection, 140 decibels causes hearing damage, and at 150 decibels your eardrums would burst. Anything over 185 decibels could kill you, and for marine animals anything over 170 decibels can injure them.  The low frequency active sonar being used by the Navy is 250 decibels and carries for hundreds of miles. The navy has acknowledged this sonar testing is responsible for the deaths of whales in the Bahamas, Canary Islands, Tasmania, Hawaii, New Zealand and other places where whales have turned up with massive haemorrhaging around the ears or stranded on beaches.

Dead beaked whale in the Bahamas

Marine animals rely on sound far more than sight, as it's their way of communicating, hunting and mating.  Sound travels 12 times faster and much further through the water than the air and the combination of commercial marine traffic, seismic surveys, and naval activity is creating so much noise the animals can't hear themselves and it's changing their patterns of calling, foraging and migration. If we care about these animals we need to make a more conscious effort to avoid making noise where they live because they don't need to feel it as well.

Black Water

Nelson Quiroga in English Bay - photo by Junie Quiroga

So there I am around 7:00 a.m. ready to go for my swim on a glorious, spring morning when I notice a bit of a sheen on the water as it's washing up on the beach.  Looks like someone spilled some kind of petroleum product here, thinks I, maybe a little gasoline or some nasty bilge water that's drifted in but, as it was only on the water by the edge of the shoreline, I didn't give it much thought and jumped in.  Everything seemed perfectly normal and it was only when I was finishing my swim an hour or so later that I realized something was up because there were all sorts of people on the beach with cameras and microphones. When they came up to me and asked if I knew I had been swimming in the middle of an oil spill my heart sank because I knew this everyone's worst nightmare.

English Bay oil spill - photo by Darryl Dyck

With a lively debate raging in the City for more than a year now over pipelines and oil tanker traffic who would have suspected a brand new grain carrying freighter, on its maiden voyage, to become the flashpoint every politico has been waiting for.  It may have only leaked 2,800 litres of oil, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the 30 million gallons spilled by the infamous Exxon Valdez, but even one litre is too much for most Vancouverites. This couldn't have come at a worse time, but more spectacular than the spill itself was the incredible display of incompetence demonstrated by each and every participant in this chaotic drama.

Marathassa - photo by Darryl Dyck

First off there was the captain of the ship Marathassa, who must have known there was a problem, since his boat was surrounded with oil from the previous day when it was first reported by a passing sailboat, but he chose to ignore it and initially refused to cooperate with authorities later asking questions. He should have been the first to radio in the problem and offer any possible assistance which would have demonstrated leadership and a commitment, on behalf of the shipping industry, to transparency, safety, and respect for the environment. Instead, he hurt the reputation of ship captains everywhere and helped foster a public perception they aren't to be trusted.

Coast Guard Western Region

Then we have the Coast Guard which took 6 hours to respond to the call from the sailboat and confirm there was a problem. By then of course it was very dark when another organization was finally called in to get started on the booming to contain the spill. The Coast Guard appeared to forget all about tides and currents (something that should be in their DNA) and were surprised when the oil slick started moving all over English Bay and washed up on the beaches in both North Vancouver and Stanley Park. It took them another 12 hours before they notified City officials so of course there were no signs up on the beach advising swimmers, boarders, or people walking their dogs, to stay out of the water. They then had the cheek to say that cleaning up 80% of the spilled oil within 36 hours was an "amazing success."

Premier Christy Clark & Mayor Gregor Robertson

In the meantime it took another 24 hours before either the Mayor or the Premier was prepared to step up to the microphone, presumably because of the time it took to work out the spin doctored messaging they were going to deliver. Robertson of course wanting to maintain his dubious green credentials but not wanting to be overly critical of those above who might be writing transit funding cheques, and Clark wanting to salvage her plan for shipping oil & gas that has now clearly sprung a huge leak. In the end all they could come up with was a "blame the federal government statement" that once again showed a complete lack of leadership.

Western Canada Marine Response Corporation vessel

Noticeably absent in any of the clean-up efforts were the Coast Guard themselves, any of the Vancouver Fire Boats, or the Harbour Patrol.  It was all done by a private corporation, Western Canada Marine Response Corporation, which maintains a base in Burrard Inlet specifically for this purpose. WCMRC is owned by the oil companies; Imperial Oil, Shell, Chevron, & Suncor as well as Trans Mountain pipelines, and its website claims to have over 2,000 members including oil handling facilities, cruise ships, and freighters visiting our ports. Not sure if the company that owned the Marathassa is a member but the others obviously had a vested interest in making sure that anything to do with an oil spill would be handled quickly given the optics and their common desire to transport oil.

Beach clean-up volunteers - photo by Junie Quiroga

In the meantime locals and activists swarmed the beach chanting, waving banners, and looking for evidence of environmental damage from the remaining 20% that hadn't been cleaned up. Fortunately there wasn't much to worry about and there were plenty of volunteers patrolling the beach, raking the sand, and cleaning up any of the gooey flotsam, jetsam, and seaweed that washed up on the shoreline. I did get some of it on the bottom of my swim boots, but thankfully it appears not a single bird was affected.

Volunteer handling gooey seaweed

If this is the best we can do for a pathetic engine room leak on one of the hundreds of regular freighters at anchor here throughout the year it certainly doesn't bode well for dealing with a major oil tanker spill or a ruptured pipeline.  The ensuing media circus ensured the environmentalists and anti-pipeline folks scored some major points though it really had nothing to do with the oil industry.  What it really demonstrated was a complete lack of planning and process on the part of government agencies at all levels who are supposedly responsible for keeping the harbour safe and clean.

Nelson and the beach closure sign - photo by Junie Quiroga

One thing for certain is the beach is now closed and I can't go for my daily ocean swim. This of course makes me a very unhappy camper, particularly with the realization that something I have always taken for granted can so easily be taken away. I know the Emerald Sea will return again but until then, for the seals and me, it's just black water.

I'll Be Log Gone

Washed up sailboats on Sunset Beach - photo by Tracey Welsford

Unlike the rest of Canada we enjoyed an unusually mild winter here in Vancouver, without even our usual quota of stormy northwesters. For the most part all the boats at anchor in English Bay had a relatively easy go of things until last week when some nasty winds came up and sent a few of them crashing into the beach at Sunset.  A log boom also got broken up somewhere further out with a good portion of it getting washed up on the beach in English Bay near the Inukshuk.

Logs on English Bay beach - photo by Junie Quiroga

Once upon a time logs like these were prized by beachcombers who would cruise along the shoreline salvaging them for resale to the forest companies that had lost them. But poor pricing from the forest companies and better booming practices to reduce lost logs nearly put an end to the business until some of the operators got together and formed their own log salvage co-operative. It's been a tough go with a seemingly endless litany of problems ranging from the softwood lumber dispute, the huge volume of pine beetle logs and the depressed U.S. housing market, but business continues to grow and last year they processed more than 25,000 cubic metres of wood which is equal to 600 logging truckloads.

Going for my morning swim I had to keep out of the way of Night Stalker as it took advantage of the high tide to float the logs off the beach and tie them together into a boom of sorts. It took a lot of manoeuvring once the "dogs" had been pounded into each log with a rope fastened to the end before they could all be joined together. After a few hours the mission was accomplished and the logs were all off the beach.

As the log salvager motored away I was happy knowing the wood was going to be used for something productive and wouldn't be out in the ocean floating around waiting to be hit by a boat. Every year thousands of dollars of damage to pleasure boats is caused by these unseen logs and without an incentive to pick them up they would just continue to be a hazard to navigation.  I've hit a few myself over the years and had to suffer the cost of repairing a damaged shaft, prop and rudder so I'm glad to see they are log gone.

Log salvaging photos by Junie Quiroga

A Hard Day's Night

Beavers in lost lagoon - photo by Junie Quiroga

Beavers aren't, strictly speaking, ocean dwelling mammals, but the ones living in Lost Lagoon, which straddles Coal Harbour and 2nd Beach, have an honorary membership in the club even if they are extremely elusive. While it may be hard to spot a beaver it certainly isn't hard to notice when they've been around and, in the case of Lost Lagoon, these industrious little Canadian icons have left a very clear trail of destruction around the perimeter. No tree, large or small is safe with these guys.

Beaver felled trees around Lost Lagoon - photo by Junie Quiroga

In the absence of a decent sized pond the beavers will build a dam to create one but, in the case of Lost Lagoon, they have one ready to go so the bigger trees are used for building their party lodge where all sorts of wild and sordid goings on take place away from the nosey eyes of other West End residents.  Access is only by going under water which further limits the door crashers. When beavers aren't partying they are out cutting down trees and they do all their work at night.

Beaver lodge in Beaver Lake - photo by Junie Quiroga

Beaver teeth never stop growing and, because they are also herbivores, it makes sense they like to chew wood.  While the big stuff is for building, the smaller trees serve as food, with willow being one of the preferred tree species but alder, cottonwood, maple and cherry will also do nicely.  With those always growing teeth and the constant knawing on willow trees I wonder if it wasn't by observing beavers we discovered the connection of the natural pain killer aspirin which is found in willow.

Beaver felled willow tree - photo by Junie Quiroga

In spite of all this beaver activity being perfectly natural and not something the stewards of Stanley Park or the self-appointed environmental purists would want to disrupt, the line does get crossed on occasion in the interest of preserving other living things.  For the sake of this mature willow tree and the shade it provides, some wire mesh had to be put around it to try and deter the beavers. Quite a few of these trees have had to get protection and it's amazing this one was saved because it only takes one good night for a beaver to take down a tree of this size.

Beaver damaged willow tree - photo by Junie Quiroga

Meanwhile in another corner of the park another group of trees are being covered up to provide a completely different type of protection.  In the upper branches of these trees are the nests of the Stanley Park heronry, one of the largest urban heron colonies in North America. There are more than 100 nests of these unique non-migrating birds in and around the tennis courts but one of the main predators are the equally numerous raccoons that also live in the area.

Raccoon deterrent covers for Blue Heron nesting trees - photo by Junie Quiroga

Keeping the raccoons from climbing up the trees and stealing the eggs is only half the battle as the nearby bald eagle residents are also constantly trying to get at the baby birds in the nests. Meanwhile the heavy concentration of these large birds and their nests is also damaging the trees.  It's a never ending struggle with the beavers trying to cut down the trees at night to build a home, the herons building nests by day, and the trees helpless to do anything about either of them.  All in all it's a hard day's night for the trees.

Blue Heron nests in Stanley Park - photo by Junie Quiroga

Time Of The Season

Venus, Mars, & Moon in alignment - photo by Junie Quiroga

There was a rare coincidence in the sky the other night with the planets Venus, goddess of Love, and her boyfriend Mars, conveniently appearing on Valentine's Day and aligning with the first crescent moon of the new lunar year.  A nice way to start the new year with symbols of love and romance but not very practical in terms of celestial timekeeping. More than anything it highlights the irreconcilable nature of the solar and lunar calendars that still persists in the world and, for a variety of reasons, we can't seem to choose between.

Relationship between Moon, Earth & Sun

The trouble of course is that in a solar year it takes planet earth nearly 365 1/4 days to go around the sun while at the same time the moon is taking a little less than 28 days to orbit the earth. (27 days,7 hours, 43 minutes, 11.6 seconds to be precise) No matter how you divide these numbers you will never get anything other than approximately 13 lunar months in an average solar year which makes for a very inaccurate calendar that will keep changing every year as the lunar months keeps moving into different parts of the solar year.

The main reason we started keeping track of time was so we knew when each season would begin and end and we could plant and harvest our crops accordingly. Now of course it's for planning holidays. As the earth moves around the sun it ends up in precisely the same place each year moving thorough the seasons from spring equinox to summer solstice, fall equinox, winter solstice, and back again to spring. For this reason a solar calendar is much more practical than a lunar one yet the lunar one still exists.  Why?

The answer of course is religion. While the solar calendar is a practical one, religious people still use the lunar calendar for their important festivals and have what is called a lunisolar calendar.  Jewish and Islamic people have a calendar that is 354 days but Jews have made adjustments that allow certain festivals like Passover, a spring festival, to occur after the spring equinox but the Muslim calendar makes no adjustment for Ramadan which must occur in the 9th lunar month and, as a result, is 11 days earlier every year. For Christians, Easter is determined to be the first Sunday after the full moon on or after March 21st, the spring equinox.  

Chinese Zodiac

It was Pope Gregory XIII who reformed the calendar in 1582 to make up for the difference in accumulated time between the Egyptian solar calendar which, at 365 1/2 days, was actually 11 minutes and 14 seconds too long, and determined January 1st to be the start of the New Year,  Still, it took more than 500 years for the rest of the world to agree to this common calendar. Zoroastrians, and many people in the Balkans, Iran, and Central Asia still celebrate New Year's day on March 21st, the spring equinox, and many East Asian countries of course use the Chinese calendar which is also lunisolar and has been adjusted to allow the New Year to fall on the second new moon after the winter solstice, a date somewhere between January 21 and February 20th.

Astrological Zodiac

While the Chinese zodiac has its 12 year cycle of various animals there's also the astrological zodiac with its 12 monthly signs representing the path of the sun across the celestial sphere over the course of a year.  Though also solar in terms of marking time, by dividing up the sun's path into 12 equal parts of 30 degrees of longitude, early astrologers also thought the position of the planets and their associated constellations could influence a person's life and people to this day continue to check their horoscopes to see what's been predicted for them.

It takes 24 hours for earth to complete a rotation on its axis and on clear days we see the sun and on clear nights the moon.  Regardless of the calendar people choose to follow, the sun rises and sets every day, as do the ocean tides which are controlled by the gravitational pull of the moon. It's all part of an incredible celestial clockworks that never ceases to amaze and, when the planets line up like they did this week, it's another way of marking the time of the season.