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Category: Marine Biology

Humpback Whales in the Salish Sea

Humpback Whales in the Salish Sea

By Bill Merilees                               “Whales are disporting themselves in Saanich Inlet. Mr. Warren is preparing whale boats and apparatus for waging war on the monsters of the deep”, so read the British Colonist Newspaper in Victoria, September 10th, 1866.  This was the beginning of whaling in British Columbia. A century later (1967), the whale stocks were so diminished that the last provincial shore based commercial whaling station, at Quatsino Sound, on northwest coast of Vancouver Island, shut down for good. The Humpback…

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Indian Arm Boat Tour

Indian Arm Boat Tour

Trip organized by Bengül Kurtar Trip report by Deborah Simpson and Angela Bond On July 6, our group of 40 nature lovers boarded the Ocean Watch II for a tour of Indian Arm, a glacial fjord that extends 20 km north of Burrard Inlet. We set off just past high tide in calm waters; the cloudy and misty weather was positively framed by Captain Mitch as an “authentic west coast experience”. Mitch explained that Indian Arm is the traditional territory…

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Stanley Park Intertidal Exploration

Stanley Park Intertidal Exploration

Photos and trip report by Sheila Byers Ecosystems change with time whether it be seasonally or over a period of years. A visit to the rocky intertidal zone off Figurehead Point in Stanley Park on Sunday, June 16, 2019 is a good example of changes to inhabitants within this community and this is my perspective on what’s happening. It was Father’s Day and a Dad and his daughter joined us on our beach exploration on the sandy and rocky intertidal…

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Centennial Beach Intertidal Exploration – Boundary Bay Regional Park

Centennial Beach Intertidal Exploration – Boundary Bay Regional Park

Photos and Trip Report by Sheila Byers A small but keen group of explorers joined me on Thursday, June 6, 2019 to walk the two kilometre distance to the subtidal eelgrass meadows at Centennial Beach. Round trip for the exploration was close to 5 km; an indication of the very low Spring tide at 0.5 m elevation. It was a cool, breezy day but luckily no rain.  We found most of the “usual suspects” that inhabit the sandy mudflats, including…

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Streamkeepers Walk at Lynn Creek

Streamkeepers Walk at Lynn Creek

Trip report by Anne Leathem If we were salmon returning to Lynn Creek to spawn … what would we hope for? Wouldn’t it be nice to have sheltered pools behind large stumps and trees where we can rest as we fight our way against the current, and some climbable ladders to get around new obstacles up stream to our own spawning areas, some gravel beds in quiet water where we can clear a redd in which to lay our eggs,…

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The Deep Sea Cities of Glass & Marine Life Sanctuaries Society

The Deep Sea Cities of Glass & Marine Life Sanctuaries Society

Volume 46 (2018) of Discovery, a journal of natural history, published by Nature Vancouver, contains the following two articles written by Sheila Byers. The Deep Sea Cities of Glass. (Click HERE to download a PDF copy). The Marine Life Sanctuaries Society and Conservation of Howe Sound Rockfishes and Glass Sponge Reefs. (Click HERE to download a PDF copy). Sheila Byers, a Registered Professional Biologist and a marine biologist, is the Past President and a current Director of the MLSS since 2007….

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Lynn Creek Streamkeepers

Lynn Creek Streamkeepers

Walk along an off-channel stream of Lynn Creek – Wed. Sept. 19, 2018 Trip Report by Abby Schwarz, Marine Biology Section Seven members of Nature Vancouver and three guests participated in this field trip, which was designed to learn how stream enhancement and restoration can be planned and carried out. Our two guides were Streamkeepers ZoAnn Morten (the head of Pacific Streamkeepers Federation) and Glen Parker (a retired engineer), and the example was an off-channel stream of Lynn Creek.The weather was…

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