new dock in tofino
van isle 360 on its way
Tofino Resort and Marina expands boat capacity.
International yacht race headed to local harbour.
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Westerly News
TOFINO-UCLUELET
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
WesterlyNews.ca
$1.25 (including tax)
wildlife
Rescued fur seal set free in Ukee Ornery animal rehabilitated and released into the wild
Andrew bAiley
andrew.bailey@westerlynews.ca
A happy and healthy northern fur seal made history as it sprinted off Ucluelet’s Little Beach and into the open ocean last week. The small animal, dubbed Flores, is believed to be the first northern fur seal ever rehabilitated and released by the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre.He was in rough shape when he arrived at the centre on Jan. 21 after being discovered washed up and in distress on Flores Island off the West Coast of Vancouver Island. “He was really tiny and really lethargic,” Vancouver Aquarium veterinary fellow Barbara Linnehan told the Westerly News. She said the roughly eight-month-old Flores should have weighed about 30 kilograms, but only weighed only six. “Six kilograms is basically their birth weight,” she said. “We had him on pretty intense supportive care at the beginning with some antibiotics and a lot of fluids to get him rehydrated and, of course, food to get him fattened up.” Flores was also blind in his right eye, suffering from blood circulation issues and received treatment for frostbite on his back flippers. “We ended up having to actually do a digit amputation on one of his frost bitten back toes, which he recovered really well from,” Linnehan said.
Andrew BAiley photo
oceAns dAy cleAnup: local students joined the Aquarium and emerald sea protection society on world oceans day to help clear debris from underneath ucluelet’s whiskey dock. one of the more peculiar items found on the ocean’s floor was a rusted out washing machine. read about the cleanup on page 7 and check out a video at www.westerlynews.ca.
Hydro power headed to Hot Springs
$7 million project would decrease First Nation’s diesel dependency Andrew bAiley
andrew.bailey@westerlynews.ca
The Hesquiaht First Nation is putting a hydro power project together to decrease Hot Spring Cove’s dependence on diesel fuel. “The village of Hot Springs Cove has long been dependent on diesel generation for electricity...The diesel emissions are 580 tonnes annually, on average. This will reduce it by 67 per cent,” said John Ebell of Barkley Project Group,
a consulting organization working with Hesquiaht on the project. “It’s a financial burden to the Hesquiaht First Nation because it obviously costs a lot of money to buy that diesel and it’s also an environmental risk to the region. There’s many barge-loads of diesel a year that are being transported from Tofino to Hot Springs Cove.” Ebell said the cost to install the new, 250 kilowatt, hydro facility would be in the neighbourhood of $7 million.
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