FRIDAY SEPT 29, 2017 VOL. 43, NO. 36
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World of wonder
Photos from the Nature Dive
Moving forward
Half-full, and made on Bowen
Reconciliation is key to a better future
A review and celebration of Teun Schut’s new album
Logging, electric ferries and more on the table at UBCM MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
Bowen Island’s men’s choir, The Men on the Rock, brought their voices to The Pier this weekend for a free concert. Tracey Wait, photo
Volunteer-driven research helps to protect local reefs MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
In 2015, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans put fisheries closures in place to protect nine glass sponge reefs in Howe Sound and the Georgia Strait. Last week, the DFO issued a notice that thirteen more reefs are now under consideration for similar closures, and they are asking the public to avoid fishing in areas surrounding those reefs. Glass Sponge Reefs are unique ecosystems that provide important habitat for marine animals including rockfish, herring and sharks. They’ve been in the ocean since dinosaurs walked the earth, although scientists thought they were extinct until they were re-discovered in the Hecate Strait in the late 1980s. The group of thirteen sponges currently under consideration were brought to DFO’s attention by members of the Marine Life Sanctuaries Society (MLSS). “If these are closed, it will be the first time that I am aware of that citizen-based research is being used to make a policy
decision,” says Bowen Islander Adam Taylor. “The DFO didn’t just take our word for it on the presence of these reefs, they commissioned a detailed report, and then ground-truthed the data with their own scientists.” Taylor is a diver, the president of the BC Underwater Council, and has participated in the research under consideration. He says the first time he saw a glass sponge was off the shore of his family’s property on Dorman Point. “My dad used to tell stories of sitting on shore in the 1940’s and watching fishermen pull up large, mature yelloweye rockfish,” says Taylor. “These fish live over 100 years and even when I was a child they were becoming rare. It was still easy to catch other species of rockfish, but they were soon fished out... Based on these stories I asked Glen Dennison to map Dorman Bay as part of the 2011 National Park proposal. Little did we know he would discover a sponge reef off Dorman Point, and sponge reefs are great rockfish habitat. In my first 20 years of diving, I had seen a total of five adult Yelloweye in Howe Sound. On that one dive, I saw four, and one of them was pregnant.” continued P3
Bowen Island’s elected officials have spent this week in Vancouver meeting with municipal leaders from across the province as well as provincial ministers talking about big issues and how best to move forward on them. Councillor Maureen Nicholson says with a change in provincial government, this year’s Union of BC Municipalities conference has a sense of curiosity and positive energy. “For example, on Monday we met with officials from the Ministry of Children and Family Development. They were very curious about what Bowen Island is like, and asked specifically about recent funding applications put forward by the Bowen Children’s Centre,” says Nicholson. “Overall, things just seem a little less formal, less cryptic than they have in the past.” The issue of funding also came up in relation to the creation of a community centre on Bowen. Councillor Gary Ander presented the latest community centre plan to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “We received very positive feedback on this presentation, and these are the same people we worked with to get funding for a water treatment plant on Bowen,” says Nicholson. “We were told there is still no bi-lateral agreement between the province and federal government on this kind of funding, but it is likely to be coming soon and they will work with us on that.” Nicholson said members of Bowen’s municipal council also met with environment minister George Heyman, and discussed emissions from ferry travel. “We told him that 89% of Bowen Island’s emissions come from the ferry discussed the possibility of an electric ferry. That was something we also brought up to Transportation Minister Claire Trevena,” says Nicholson. “A few years ago, the mention of an electric ferry would get a look like, you’re kidding me... but now, electrification of transportation is on everyone’s mind. BC Ferries does have plans to build diesel-electric ferries, but no straight-out electric ferries yet.” The issue of logging also came up in conversations with the Ministry of Forests Lands and Natural Resources as well as the “Small Talk Forum,” for small communities. “A councillor from Clayoquot stood up and told us to ‘full-on protest,’” says Nicholson. “We said we did, and all had a good laugh.”
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Better on Bowen
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