Room To Move

Female Orca & calves - photo by Michael Mehta

So there I am after a weekend of scuba diving around Gabriola Island with my buddy Mike and on our last dive we surface to find ourselves surrounded by whale watching boats and a pod of around a dozen Orcas!!! Wow is all we could say as we quickly scrambled into our dinghy, pulled up anchor, and started to take in the show. A couple of large males were scouting things out a little further away but the females were teaching the youngsters all sorts of things like spy hopping, tail & fin slapping, and breaching which they were enthusiastically practising much to the delight of everyone in the area.

Given that these whales were so close to us (just a few hundred yards away) we were a little surprised that we hadn't heard them vocalizing while we were diving, as sound travels extremely well under water. But it never occurred to us these killer whales may in fact be transient killer whales or Bigg's killers whales as they are now referred to and that's why we hadn't heard them.  Recognised as a distinct species of killer whale from the exclusively salmon eating resident killer whales, these killer whales feed primarily on seals and they purposely do not make any noise under water so as not to alert their prey. With the abundant population of harbour seals now inhabiting the Salish Sea these Bigg's Orcas are becoming less and less transient and even more regularly sighted than the local resident Orca pods.

Nelson & Mike Dinghy Diving - photo by Junie Quiroga

While there have not yet been any documented cases of transient killer whales attacking a human, and hopefully we wouldn't be mistaken for a seal or some other edible mammal while under water, it's a little disconcerting to imagine any closer of an encounter. We later confirmed they were in fact a pod of transient whales and it was a thrilling priviledge to have seen such a healthy group of Orcas enjoying themselves. There are apparently more than 250 Bigg's Orcas patrolling our waters and next time we see them we'll be sure to give them even more room to move.

Chinatown

Row of houses for sale on Granville Street

These days all Vancouverites can talk about is real estate. Bidding wars for property, outrageous prices being paid, houses being torn down to build new mansions or entire blocks of townhouses, highrise apartment buildings going up everywhere after being sold out in advance, crooked real estate agents, corruption within City Hall and, at the end of the day, there's no affordable housing to be found.  It's all the fault of foreigners who are taking over, particularly, the Chinese, who arrive daily on our doorstep with suitcases full of cash they have been spiriting out of their own country. One could almost be forgiven for thinking this is payback time or karma for all the nastiness we imposed on the Chinese and other Asians in our not so distant and sordid past.

Chinese work gang near Rogers Pass

While the first Chinese to arrive in British Columbia came in 1858 to take part in the Fraser River gold rush the real immigration came in the 1880's when 15,000 came over to work for the CPR on the national railway being built. They earned $1.00 a day, compared to the $1.50-$2.50 a day for the white men and still had to pay for their food & camping gear which was supplied for free to the white men. They faced such harsh and dangerous living and working conditions, tunnelling and using explosives and subsisting on a vitamin poor diet of rice & fish, that it's estimated for every mile of track that was laid four of them died. When the railway was completed in 1885 B.C. was hit with a recession and labour groups were fearful that cheap Chinese labour would take away their jobs.

Head Tax Receipt

Bowing to provincial pressure the federal government in 1885 passed the Chinese Immigration Act which stipulated that all Chinese must pay a $50.00 head tax. Every few years the tax was raised until by 1904 it had reached $500.00 equivalent to almost two years pay.  An "Act to restrict and regulate Chinese immigration into Canda" this was the first in Canada's history to exclude immigrants based on their ethnic origin. Even with this heavy tax, which discouraged the immigration of women and families and created a "bachelor society" of men sending home their money, the government felt it wasn't doing enough to stop immigration and in 1923 passed the Chinese Exclusion Act banning all Chinese immigration to Canada which now eliminated any hope of these men ever being re-united with their families. This Act wasn't repealed until 1947 and only in 1950 was the Immigration Act amended to allow spouses and unmarried children of Canadian citizens to immigrate.

Aftermath of the 1907 Vancouver Riots

Not content with laws that forbid Asians from voting, practising law or pharmacy, be elected to public office, serve on juries, have careers in public works, education, the civil service or be members of a union or own property in certain parts of the city, the Asiatic Exclusion League was formed on August 12, 2007 with the aim of keeping Oriental immigrants out of B.C. Alexander Bethune, the Mayor of Vancouver, was also a member of the League and on September 7th he permitted them to hold an inflammatory rally at City Hall which then led to a crowd of 8,000 rampaging through Chinatown and Japantown vandalizing shops and causing thousands of dollars of damage. The rioting lasted three days before police finally decided to close the streets and restore order.

Asians in general and Chinese in particular have spent the last 150 years working very hard to get ahead in this city in spite of all the racism directed against them. Where anybody got the idea this country is only for white people simply because the British and French were the first to arrive here and expropriate the land from the First Nations people is beyond me. In fact when you think about it even the ancestors of First Nations people were originally from Asia. It should come as no surprise that Vancouver is viewed by the rest of the world as paradise and a good many Vancouverites have "won the lottery" by cashing in on the selling of their property. Time to start saying "Welcome to Chinatown".

Teenage Wildlife

Lately there has been an extremely frisky juvenile humpback whale swimming around English Bay. It arrived over the Easter weekend and caught some boaters by happy surprise out in the middle of the bay and they were able to capture it on video as it seemed to chase them.

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2016/04/humpback-whale-vancouver-video/

The following weekend people noticed the same whale cruising along off Kits and Jericho beaches enjoying his Sunday dinner and posing for the occasional photograph. It was back again for a 3rd weekend and it seemed as if he was getting ready to look for a place to live until he found out how expensive this city is.  Nonetheless he was still cruising around Jericho on Monday when he encountered a pair of kayakers who made an amazing video as he swam up to them and nearly swamped their boat.

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2016/04/insane-video-shows-humpback-whale-getting-close-kayaker-jericho-beach/

Where this whale's parents and friends are is a complete mystery but as long as he finds enough to eat in the English Bay fridge it would appear he is just fine hanging out here on his own. Young people these days have way too much adult supervision and it's nice to see that even though he is on his own he is still very well behaved. Given that humpback whales can be heard singing under water for thousands of miles I'm sure it won't be long before he either goes back home or someone comes to find him.

Humpback whales pass by our coastline every year as they migrate from their breeding grounds in California & Hawaii to their feeding grounds in Alaska.  B.C. offers plenty of food as well but usually the whales stick to the West Coast or Northern tip of Vancouver Island.  But there's more than one way to get to Alaska and sometimes heading up the Inside Passage through the Salish Sea (Georgia Straight) is just as convenient. It's always special to see one of these friendly giants in the neighbourhood and a little teenage wildlife reminds us of how important it is to be free.

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2016/04/humpback-whale-vancouver-video-point-grey/

Times They Are A Changing

4218 West 12th circa 1956

The biggest story by far these days in Vancouver is the real estate story.  It's all everyone talks about and it gets more and more outlandish by the day. Rising property values, bidding wars for any house coming on the market, and everywhere you look there is major construction under way. While it's great for the economy, indeed it seems to be the only one we have in this City, it's also having a profound effect on everyone's sense of place and commonly held assumptions about their own particular neighbourhood.

4218 West 12th circa 2016

The old Point Grey house I grew up in the late 1950's and early 1960's was originally built in 1918 and purchased for less than $9,000.00 by my father who at the time was a Safeway employee and a regular working class person like everyone else in the neighbourhood. It was a 1,600 square foot home on two floors with a finished basement suite that, like most of the other houses in the area, was rented out to students at UBC as a mortgage helper. Today that same house has an assessed value of over $2.3 million.

1723 - 1729  Pendrell Street circa 1958

It's sometimes hard to imagine that up until the 1950's the West End was also a working class area of modest single family dwellings and mansions that had been converted into rooming houses. But in 1957 the ban on buildings over 6 stories was lifted and for the next 15 years a construction frenzy was under way with houses being torn down and replaced with more than 220 high rise apartment buildings. With its 45,000 residents the West End became the most densely populated area in Canada and in 1973 Council put the brakes on further high density development.

Stratford Place 1725 Pendrell Street circa 2016

With its easy going lifestyle, proximity to downtown, and of course beautiful Stanley Park and English Bay it's no wonder people have always flocked to the West End. But, like all parts of Vancouver, the rapidly rising property values are making for profound change. On the Cambie, Oak, and Granville Street corridors entire blocks of single family houses are being torn down to build multiple family townhouse developments and, with the overwhelming success of new condo developments in Yaletown and the Olympic Village, the eyes of the developers are turning once again towards the West End.

Proposed development for 1750 Pendrell Street

Where there is money there is corruption or, at the very least, influence peddling and one can't help but wonder why City Council and the Courts would otherwise disregard its Community Plans and zoning by-laws to accommodate big name developers.  In federal elections and most provincial ones it is illegal for any corporation or union to make contributions to a political party but in B.C. it's the rules of the wild West that seem to prevail.  There is no provincial or municipal limit or corporate prohibition on campaign contributions and consequently the list of donors to either the Vision or NPA party is a Who's Who of developers, architects, and construction companies.

View of English Bay from my apartment - photo by Junie Quiroga

As a result, my view of English Bay is about to be ruined because Council decided to overturn its height restriction of 6 storeys and a density of 1.96 FSR to an FSR of 6.96, which is more than triple what has been in place for more than 40 years, and approve the construction of a 21 storey building across the street from my own apartment at 1725 Pendrell Street. The City says it is trying to increase the stock of apartment rentals but it doesn't mean they care about affordability. Because of the location and view these will be apartments with expensive rents. Once upon a time the West End was a place for the wealthy and, with all the new luxury buildings going up, it looks like things have come full circle.  The times they are indeed a changing and, while I'm not against development per se, it's the way the changes are handled that rankles.

More Power For The People

In spite of all the talk about global warming and air pollution the average consumer/taxpayer is not prepared to put their money where their mouth is.  When the price of gasoline is high people start to think wistfully about buying a Tesla but as soon as it drops they rush off to the car dealer and buy a new SUV or pick-up truck. With no incentive to change their way of thinking they are content to blissfully go about their daily lives and wait for someone else to solve the problem.

Tesla Model S

The great thing about electric cars is they produce zero air pollution, the not so great thing is the electricity comes from a battery and the battery has a limited range before it needs to be re- charged. In the case of the Tesla that means every 250 miles or so and for the considerably less expensive Nissan Leaf it's around every 100 miles. But just because you never have to buy gas again doesn't mean you don't have to pay for the cost of charging the battery, it's just that it's a lot cheaper. Not counting free car charging stations, the average cost of electricity in your home is $0.12 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and with the Nissan Leaf requiring 29 kWh per 100 miles this works out to $3.48 per hundred miles. By contrast the Tesla mileage is 38 kWh/100 miles or $4.56 per hundred miles but either way a fraction of what it costs for gasoline.

Nissan Leaf

While electric cars aren't contributing to air pollution directly it doesn't mean they don't contribute in an indirect way.  Just like any other electrical appliance, the electricity to charge them has to come from somewhere and that means a power plant of some kind which could be running on coal, which is very bad in terms of air pollution, natural gas which is only slightly better, or nuclear energy which emits no air pollution and is the best energy source of all in spite of misconceptions about its safety. Environmentalists point to a renewable energy source like solar, wind, or hydro as the cleanest and safest way to go but is it really?

Siemens Power Plant Turbo Generator

The trouble with wind and solar power is you need a steady source of either wind or sunshine for them to run properly and generally they run at somewhere between 33% - 50% capacity. To generate the 500 MW of electricity a typical medium size power plant would produce they also require tremendous amounts of space. The largest solar power plant in the world is the 579 MW Solar Star plant in California which occupies 13 square kilometres, and the Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farm in the U.K. (one of the largest in the world) uses up 36 square kilometres to generate only 315 MW of power. Compare this to the Bruce nuclear power plant in Ontario that occupies 9 square kilometres and generates over 6,200 MW of power.

WAC Bennett Dam

In B.C. our electricity comes mainly from a seemingly inexhaustible supply of renewable hydro power that we think of as being clean if you choose to ignore what happens to all the flooded areas used for creating the reservoirs behind each of the dams. When the W.A.C. Bennett Dam was built on the Peace River it flooded 1,400 square kilometres of forested land, and displaced members of the Tsay Keh Dene First Nations. It also turned the existing Williston Lake into the largest body of fresh water in B.C. and created the 3rd largest artificial lake in North America, now known as the Williston Reservoir.

Dams Along The Peace River

The W.A.C. Bennett Dam, originally conceived as the Site A Dam, and built in 1967, generates over 2,700 MW of power and the Peace Canyon Dam, or Site B Dam, which was built in 1980, generates another 700 MW of power using the same water from the Bennett Dam. The latest plan is to build yet another dam on the Peace River referred to as the Site C Dam which is projected to generate 1,100 MW of power.  Once again flooding of First Nations, wildlife, and agricultural land is the issue with 22 square kilometres that will be lost in the process.

3 Gorges Dam

Not much to worry about in the grand scheme of things when compared to the disruption the 3 Gorges Dam caused in China when it was being built and 1.5 million people had to be relocated. But this dam, the largest power station in the world able to generate 22,500 MW of electricity, has also reduced coal consumption by over 30 million tonnes per year. That's a lot of dirty air no longer getting into the atmosphere and the potential to power a lot of electric cars. More power for the people.

Power For The People

Nuclear Power Plant in France

The good thing about the recent Paris conference on climate change is that all the countries in the world agreed they needed to do something about global warming, the bad news is they couldn't agree on a workable solution.  Everyone wants to move away from a world that is powered by carbon to one that is powered by renewable energy sources like solar, wind, water or geothermal heat and, while each of these certainly has potential, they also have many limitations that don't make them very practical.  There is however, one power source that is very practical and could quickly help us make the transition to a cooler planet, and that's nuclear energy.

Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to generate heat which is then cooled to create steam which in turn drives turbine generators that produce electricity. Nuclear power plants are almost identical to coal or gas fired plants in how they function with the critical difference being they don't send any nasty pollutants into the atmosphere, only harmless water vapour. Nuclear power plants with their ubiquitous water cooling towers have been in operation since the 1950's and currently supply the U.S. with 20% of it's electricity, 15% of Canada's and a whopping 80% of France's. It was high oil prices in the 1970's not fears of global warming that got France embracing nuclear power in a big way but the logic still applies if you want to reduce dependence on carbon.

Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown

Critics of nuclear energy point to the accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima as reasons to avoid going this route but the actual number of people who died has been greatly exaggerated by urban myth. Nobody died in Three Mile Island, 31 people died in Chernobyl and, while 6 workers died in Fukushima, none of the deaths were from radiation. While there was some radiation in each of these surrounding areas, the cancer rate for the population is only expected to increase marginally over the years. Just like people feel safer travelling by car instead of by airplane, even though the risk of accident and death is much greater, the same irrational thinking applies to nuclear energy, even though hundreds of these plants are operating around the world without incident.

Currently only 2.5% of the world's energy consumption is supplied by nuclear power in spite of  438 nuclear power plants in 30 countries, but there are another 70 under construction with China leading the pace with 24 of the total and another 60 in the planning stages. Likewise for India which has 6 under construction now and another 50 in the planning stages. Even still it's hardly a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of energy supplied being supplied by fossil fuels.

Coal-fired power plant

It's a good thing countries like India and China are switching as fast as they can from coal to nuclear power.  Coal has been the cheapest way for them to get started but it's the worst offender for pollution and the smog it produces is making the entire country ill.  But while we point our fingers at developing countries and their impact on global warming we conveniently overlook our own bad habits if it's going to make things inconvenient. And our worst habit is the suburban lifestyle in general and the automobile in particular.

Coal loading facility in North Vancouver - photo by Junie Quiroga

We aren't going to reduce global warming if we don't reduce the amount of C02 we put into the atmosphere and we aren't going to reduce the amount of C02 we put in the atmosphere if we don't reduce the amount of gasoline and diesel we burn by driving our cars. In the meantime, our economy depends on selling fossil fuels to the world. But we have also developed the CANDU nuclear technology that we use here and have sold abroad and perhaps this is the perfect time to accelerate those efforts. In fact the CANDU Bruce Nuclear Generating Station on Lake Huron is the largest nuclear power plant in the world.  So what's it going to be, coal or nuclear power for the people?

Bruce Nuclear Power Plant

Another Day In Paradise

Grey whale off English Bay seawall - photo by VPD Marine Unit

There's nothing like a whale to stop Vancouverites dead in their tracks and take their minds off the high cost of housing, a boring Federal election, and the incessant beeping of their smart phones. Mind you the phones were quickly put into gear taking photos, texting, and calling everyone to come and see the latest wonder in paradise. It was a warm and sunny afternoon, the last day of September and the seawall was full of folks enjoying another perfect day.

Vancouverites watching the grey whale in English Bay - photo by Junie Quiroga

Vancouverites following the grey whale along the seawall - photo by Junie Quiroga

For some reason this whale has taken a shine to the Vancouver harbour and has been spotted along the beach in West Vancouver, in and around Coal Harbour, and all along the Stanley Park seawall over the past week or so. It also likes to stay close to shore for some reason, which makes it easy for everyone to follow its progress. Whether it's the same whale that appeared earlier in the summer, or is one of the many passing through on their annual road trip between Alaska and California that detours here for a pit stop and some tasty munchies hasn't been determined, but grey whale sightings seem to be a more common occurrence these past few years.

Grey whale in English Bay - photo by Junie Quiroga

Hard to believe we nearly hunted these creatures to extinction back in the day when we refined their blubber into oil to light our lamps and make soap. Vegetable oil and electricity have saved the day and the grey whales, along with the humpback whales and others, are making a dramatic comeback, in spite of Japan, Norway, and Iceland, that continue to defy the worldwide whaling ban that went into effect in 1986. While the whales are normally spotted off the west coast of Vancouver Island they are frequently now making their way into the Salish Sea (Georgia Strait) as they seek to re-establish old migration routes.

Grey whale tucking into bed at sunset in English Bay - photo by Junie Quiroga

It's been 5 years since I started writing this blog after suggesting to the local papers they write a column about the waterfront and was told there wasn't enough material to write about or readers that would be interested. Our waterfront is connected in so many ways to all the things in life that really matter and I've always found something of interest to write about, averaging over one posting per month and 1,500 readers around the world logging in.

Grey whale

When I went for my swim this morning the whale was waiting for me, having spent a comfortable night sleeping in our cozy bay, and I couldn't believe I had such a magnificent swimming partner to start my day with. A little intimidating when he got too close but otherwise magical.  I think I'll name him Stanley. Another day in paradise.

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