This morning at low tide we came across several pacific sand lance on the beach. They had just spawned and lay dead on the beach awaiting the predators.
It is especially important through July and August, (note last year)when they are spawning regularly to avoid heavy traffic on the beach (especially horses).
It would be nice if we all were careful, cleaned up after ourselves and were considerate of others and the environment. Unfortunately the annual spring and early summer problem of Fires on Metchosin beaches provides much evidence to the contrary. Those of us who frequent the area have observed a deterioration in the situation in the last few years on Taylor and Weir’s beach. This spring with the stair access to Wittty’s lagoon cut off and the announcement on local media that beach fires are not allowed in other municipalities but it was still okay to have them in Metchosin, the problem has reached a tipping point.
Ed Note: Metchosin Council finally banned all beach fires in a meeting in mid-June this year.
1. THE PROBLEM OF THE BURNING OF PALETTES:
The above was just part of last weeks legacy on Taylor Beach:
A quick review of the internet points out that :
Many Pre-2005 pallets have been treated with Methyl Bromide prior to exporting (part of phytosanitary regulations before import/export shipping to reduce risk of importing wood diseases and pests from country to country). The Methyl Bromide treated pallets should be disposed of as hazardous waste since it is dangerous to both people and the environment. Newer pallets are heat treated, but don’t rule out mildicides ( for fungal inhibition) applied to some pallets.
2. THE BURNING BEACH DRIFTWOOD PROBLEM:
It saddens us to see people chopping or sawing up large logs or dragging them whole onto fires . These logs, some well over 50 years old provide habitat for beach creatures and being moveable, can absorb wave energy and help to stabilize the backshore from increasing erosion.
Why do people continue to burn driftwood when there is clear evidence that it can produce toxic substances?
From:http://www.bcairquality.
” The driftwood found on B.C. beaches may seem like an economically attractive heat source. Driftwood, however, is laden with salt, and burning it releases sodium and chlorine ions. The potential exists for these chlorine ions to form chlorinated compounds such as dioxins and furans, which are suspected human carcinogens. They may also corrode your stove and venting system.”
3. THE “I’VE GOT TO HAVE MY OWN PIECE OF THE BEACH” PROBLEM:
Why is it not okay to use someone’s old firepit instead of building a new one a few feet away, creating another mess?
Last week I counted 40 old and recent firepits from this season along a stretch of no more than 200 metres of Taylor Beach.
4. THE PROBLEM WITH THE MESS PEOPLE LEAVE:
Probably before the end of summer I will get a picture of the melted broken bottles and aluminum beer cans left in fire-pits, but for now this will have to do. The hazard this poses for children and animals is unacceptable. Winter storms will distribute any material left like in mounds and pits over the beach, posing an unsuspecting hazard.
5. THE HABITAT DESTRUCTION PROBLEM:
In the photo below, the darkened sand area, a diameter of around 4 metres or 12 feet , is where there will be complete sterilization of the sand and death of any organisms living within it. Sand is not an inert environment to begin with. It can have a complex ecosystem of bacteria and invertebrates which contribute to decomposition and nutrient cycling , as well as a habitat for forage fish.
Darkened sand shows area of influence of a beach fire.
6. THE EXTREMELY DRY WEATHER AND WILDFIRE RISK PROBLEM:
Perhaps this is the biggest problem that threatens to have a huge impact on life in Metchosin. The continuity of dry brush and forest from the beaches to backyards is a real threat for wildfires. Fanned by winds, fires that escape or were not completely extinguished and left unattended could cause untold damage to residents and property in the district.
Some other references :
District of Metchosin Burning Regulations:
Metchosin FIre Department Burning regulations:
Central Saanich Burning Regulations:
Saanich Beach Fire regulations:
Comox Valley Regional District:
John Costello and James Kennerley-Aug 2013.
Four new purple martin boxes were installed on the pilings of the Pearspn College docks in Pedder Bay on August 6, 2013. The team was Fred Beinhauer, John Costello, the late Tom Gillespie, and James Kennerley , a student from Pearson College.
This is now the second year that they have inhabited the houses and raised offspring. Locally, the Rocky Point Bird Observatory has assumed responsibility for Purple Martin colonies on South Van Island. The RPBO coordinator is Wallis Moore Reid. Courtney Edwards agreed to be the PC colony steward. Her office is right on the wharf where the boxes are located.
The overall effort in BC is administered by the Purple Martin Recovery Society. Bruce Cousens out of Nanaimo is the Biologist who is the driving force behind the project.
Some websites are: http://www.georgiabasin.ca/puma.htm (the official website of Bruce Cousens mentioned above) and http://rpbo.org/
RESEARCH ARTICLE: Conserv Genet DOI 10.1007/s10592-007-9358-3
High genetic diversity in the blue-listed British Columbia population of the purple martin maintained by multiple sources of immigrants Allan J. Baker, Annette D. Greenslade, Laura M. Darling and J. Cam Finlay
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Hirundinidae
Genus: Progne
Species: P. subis
Progne subis
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Why are BC residents so concerned about what might happen to their coastline from an increase in shipping and oil tankers?
We don’t have a scene like this video portrays in Metchosin, although we do get frenzy feeding by birds and mammals in the fall at Race Rocks but we do have forage fish which live on our beaches and provide year round food for the ecosystem.
Don’t miss this video from Denman Island : https://vimeo.com/121960894?
The holes punched out by horses can be up to 25 cm. in depth.
The Metchosin Community has a considerable population of recreational horses. It is accepted that to criticize anything horse-related might not be politically correct in Metchosin.
The pictures included in this post represent an extreme example but they are useful in order to point out the potential environmental impact of this activity. Let alone making it difficult to walk on until the next high tide comes in to smooth it out, the real issue is what is happening to the habitat of the forage fish. Both Pacific Smelt and Sand lance inhabit intertidal zones on Taylor beach. When they spawn, these forage fish deposit eggs just under the surface of the sand . They are vulnerable to compaction and excessive drying out before they are carried out by the tide. Given the lack of protection afforded the habitat of these fish and the over-harvesting in the herring fishery, these essential small fish of the food web are challenged enough already.
Horse hoof punctures in the sand right down in the area where sand lance are depositing their eggs in burrows.
On my daily walks on Taylor Beach since the fall, I have noticed that there has been a constant presence of the diving ducks off shore which rely on the forage fish from Taylor Beach. It will be interesting to see when they depart to go to their nesting grounds, usually to the North on Inland lakes.
Today a common loon, several red-breasted mergansers, buffleheads and surf scoters are still scattered over the waterfront.
No estimate is available on the number of diving birds that winter along the waterfront around the southern end of Vancouver Island depending on forage fish for survival but the sum total would probably be considerable given what we are regularly seeing in this area off Taylor Beach. In our efforts as intervenors on behalf of Friends of Ecological reserves, we have been aware and questioned the importance of the over-wintering population of seabirds in the area which would be severely affected in the event of a catastrophic oil spill. Unfortunately the level of environmental impact assessment by the pipeline and oil transport company in this area which is a few miles from the intended vessel traffic lane does not exist.
In our recent Round 2 intormation requests , we tried to get KM/ Trans Mountain to acknowledge the importance of modelling a spill of their toxic diluted bitumin off Victoria. They have refused to do so so far .
SInce Taylor beach is a spawning beach for two forage fish, Pacific Smelt and sand lance which provide food for these marine birds, one might reflect on the way we humans use and abuse the beach, the habitat of the forage fish. Numerous randomly placed beach fires and horse traffic which punches up the beach are concerns which should be addressed in Metchosin .
On January 15, 2014, The Board of Friends of Ecological reserves submitted the round 2 set of Information Requests to Kinder Morgan /TMX project . Since it has some questions related to local sensitive marine ecological areas, It is posted here:
C33-4-1_-_Information_Request_No._2_-_A4G5Q9
Other posts on our concerns about the risk of oil spills on Metchosin’s Coastline may be found here:
50 other intervenors in the NEB hearings also submitted questions.. The link to these will be added here when the National Energy Board puts up a link.
Metchosin resident Jan Poulin reported a dead marine mammal today on Weir’s beach. Below are some pictures. It looks like a mature male, up to 4 m in length. It had been washed up in the swell form the North East storms over the last week. It has been dead for some time and will eventually probably cause a problem for the residents of the area. It has been reported to DFO.
male elephant seal, dead on Weir’s Beach photo: G. Fletcher
Other images of the elephant seal : December 26, 2014
The vessel traffic lane in the Strait of Juan de Fuca is very narrow and it llies within 3 to 5 nautical miles of the boundary of Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. The ecoguardians at the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve have contributed photos of the local fauna, with tankers in the background and we have posted them on this page:
Cormorants and Sealions with a 300 metre tanker in the backgound: photo by Alex Fletcher.
Cormorants and Sealions with tanker in the backgound: photo by Alex Fletcher.
We often come across these empty shells of Tresus capax the Fat Gaper on the shores of Taylor Beach. They live buried in the sand in the shallow water offshore. Around the opening of the siphon, Tresus capax has small palps around each opening which distinguishes it from other bivalves.
Fat Gaper : ( Tresus capax)
Classification::
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Veneroida
Family: Mactridae
Genus: Tresus
Species: Tresus capax (Gould, 1850)
The Fat Gaper, Tresus capax . Note the size in comparison to a glove.
Useful References: E-fauna BC page on bivalve Molluscs: