FRIDAY MAR 31, 2017 VOL. 43, NO. 12
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On the mend
Islanders’ objects got a new lease on life at last weekend’s Fix-It Fair
Reconciliation
A farmer’s spring
Local author wants to delve into history, to carve out a better future
Tales from the lamb maternity ward at Endswell Farm
“Dancehall Years” a finalist in BC Book Awards MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
Dr. Marie Noel, the Research Manager for the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Pollution Research Program, inspects caged mussels grown in Snug Cove.
Meribeth Deen, photo
Scientist test Snug Cove mussels for contaminants
MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
Scientists from the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre recently extracted 60 day-old mussels grown off of Norma’s dock in Snug Cove as part of a wider program, named PollutionTracker, to measure pollutants in British Columbia’s coastal waters. “Mussels are great integrators of water quality, taking out particles and water bound contaminants, giving a snapshot of what’s going on,” says Dr. Peter Ross, director of the Aquarium’s Ocean Pollution Research Program. “Sediments are the ultimate sink for ocean pollutants, so taking a sediment sample and looking at a range of different contaminants is pretty informative in terms of looking at the general state of contamination in a coastal region. So by doing both we are looking at different but complimtary signals in terms of what’s in the water and what sinks to the bottom.” Analysis of wild mussels and sediment are the basis of the Pollution Tracker study, but the analysis of genetically con-
trolled “caged mussel,” such as those pulled out of Snug Cove, are an addition to it. Ross adds that while similar studies have been ongoing in the US for more than three decades, this is the first study of its kind in Canada. What makes Pollution Tracker stand out on an international level is the range of contaminants that will be tested for, as well as the level of detection. “In setting up these 50 Pollution Tracker sites up and down the coast we’re hoping, for the first time, to compare like with like up and down the coast and look for a very wide range of contaminants, and that would include PCBs, PBDEs, Dioxins, Furans, metals, hydrocarbons, micro-plastics, flame-retardants, pharmaceuticals and personal care products,” says Ross. “And we’re also asking that a high resolution analysis be done. So that’s using the most expensive instrumentation and protocols in the lab, which allows you to reduce the detection limit and give us more compounds to look at.” Ross adds that there are no results back from any of the detection sites, but when the research is complete, his team will write up their results for scientific literature, to report to funders and to inform the public.
Launched in June, the fictional family saga, The Dancehall Years, in which Bowen Island is a central location, is one of five finalists for this year’s Ethel Wilson Fiction category of the BC Book Prizes. Author Joan Haggerty says her family’s history stretches back to the summer her mother was eight years old, and her grandparents set up a tent by the lagoon. The cottage Haggerty summered in was built in 1918, right below what is now know as the Bowen Lodge. Back then, it was the dance hall. “My cottage was right underneath, so it completely affected my childhood,” says Haggerty. “We were always peaking in the windows and wanting to be grown up.” She stresses that while the main character, Gwen, who we meet stepping onto a boat headed to Bowen with her family from at the beginning of summer, may bare resemblance to her, each character and event is a work of imagination. The story begins in the idyllic summer of 1939, when children laugh easily, when revelers come to Bowen on booze cruises and babies take their naps in cradles placed under the big Douglas Firs. Then suddenly, it skips ahead to the summer of 1941, “when nothing’s like its supposed to be.” Through war, secrets, illicit affairs and acts of violence, the lives of four families intersect, and Haggerty warns, “it gets rough.” The Dancehall Years is available at the Union Steamship Company store and on Amazon. The winners of the BC Book Prizes will be announced at the Lieutenant Governor’s Gala on April 4.
Author Joan Haggerty still summers on Bowen Island. She spends her winters writing in a cabin outside of Smithers. photo submitted