Almost every day on my stroll along Taylor Beach I encounter the trash of those who freely use this beautiful beach and yet are so thoughtless that they continue to leave bags of dog poop. These are just from today…
Who do they expect is going to clean up after them ?? Throwing the deposits directly in the ocean would be better than leaving these plastic bags on logs or suspended in the bushes.
Andrew Nikiforuk has written an article in the Hakai magazine which supports one of our arguments in the work we did as intervenors in the National Energy Board Hearings on the Kinder Morgan/Trans Mountain Extension Pipeline project. This article profiles how we are being duped by oil companies and governments into believing that oil spills can be cleaned up and that oiled birds and mammals can be rehabilitated.
“And that’s where the state of marine oil spill response sits today: it creates little more than an illusion of a cleanup. Scientists — outside the oil industry — call it “prime-time theatre” or “response theatre.””
Why Do We Pretend to Clean Up Ocean Oil Spills?
https://www.hakaimagazine.com/article-long/oil-spill-cleanup-illusion
Also see:
Oil Sands Dilbit Causes Developmental Problems in Fish
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:
We often hear that we need to extract oil and ship it overseas in order to support “Canadian jobs and the Economy” I thought I would provide in this post a few links here to some references worth noting on the subsidization of the fossil fuel industry in Canada . GF
“The oil industry provides economic benefits in the short and medium term, but more permanent external benefits are less certain and are countered by the sector’s environmental impacts. This paper provides an analysis of federal financial support for the oil sector as well as recommendations on policy options. It recognizes progress made by Canada in phasing out certain subsidies, while noting that remaining federal direct and indirect support measures are largely inefficient and unnecessary.”
Abstract: Continue reading
Tim Hortons coffee cups, complete with non-biodegradable plastic lids . Neatly stashed in the logs.
In the past few weeks a few objects have been “mistakenly” left by visitors to Taylor Beach. There are several local residents who always help to keep the beach clean but regularly encounter these possessions. We do hope that future visitors aren’t so forgetful.
Non-biodegradable plastic bag , neatly tied, complete with dog excrement inside.
This image was taken after two walks on half of Taylor beach after a set of swells from the East in the past week. G. Fletcher photo.
It may not be obvious to the casual beach stroller, but the bits and pieces of plastic rope one sees occasionally can be a real hazard in the ocean. When the plastic breaks down ( It never really breaks down, it just turns into smaller pieces) it can be taken up into the gills of fish and invertebrates, where it can eventually become lethal.
Rather sad when you know that all these pieces of rope could have been disposed of properly instead of just being thrown carelessly into the ocean.
Solution: require all plastic rope used in the marine environment to be completely biodegradable after a certain length of time in the water or on a beach.
An additional insideous problem here is the small ring band of white plastic strapping on the right . This kind of band used in bundling fishing nets is what we see impaled on the necks of sealions.
Check out images of the results on the Race Rocks website .
Also see Entanglement
Interesting Reference: http://5gyres.org/ on Plastic Pollution Accumulating in Oceanic Gyres.
Dr. J.Rene van Doop and Dr. Jason R.W. Merrick developed a vessel traffic movement baseline based on 2010 data and used that to model predictions for the future given the following projected inceases per year in Tanker Traffic:
487 gateway Bulk Carriers
348 Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (Kinder Morgan)
348 Delta Port Carriers
67 Delta Port Container Ships +Bunkering Barges
1250= Total projected increase per year
Our coastline in Metchosin is highly exposed to the potential risks from the increase in tanker traffic that will come if the Kinder Morgan/ Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion s allowed to proceed. (400 Aframax size tankers per year) In order to provide access to the Information requests from the over 400 intervenors which are available on the NEB website, the following link is provided. The Board of the Friends of Ecological Reserves has posted their first set of Information Requests to the National Energy Board and Kinder Morgan as Intervenors in the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project . Their concerns focus on the Ecological reserves of Southern Vancouver Island such as Race Rocks . See this link with a further link to all intervenors Information requests. 
The Canadian Press
January 29, 2014 01:24 PM
OTTAWA — A government-commissioned risk analysis says the coast of southern British Columbia and the Gulf of St. Lawrence are the Canadian areas most vulnerable marine oil spills and among the most likely for a major spill to occur.
The findings will add to the debate over several pipeline proposals — including two in B.C. that the report says will substantially increase marine risks.
The 256-page study, delivered this month to Transport Canada, looks at the risks associated with marine oil spills south of the 60th parallel under current shipping volumes.
It identifies the southern tip of Vancouver Island, the Cabot Strait off Newfoundland, the eastern coast of Cape Breton Island and the Gulf of St. Lawrence as the most probable areas for a major oil spill.
But the study also assesses the potential impact of four proposed pipeline projects, including the Northern Gateway Pipeline to Kitimat and Kinder Morgan’s plan to almost triple its Trans Mountain line into Vancouver.
The report says the Kinder Morgan proposal would essentially double oil traffic in an already vulnerable marine environment — with a corresponding increase in spill frequency — while the Northern Gateway marine route would turn what are currently very low, near-shore risks into very high risks.
The study found that reversing Enbridge’s Line 9 to carry Western Canadian crude to refineries in Montreal and Quebec City would actually lower marine spill risks, as it would reduce oil imports through the sensitive Gulf of St. Lawrence.
And the study found that the proposed Energy East Pipeline to St. John, N.B., would likely be a wash, reducing shipping imports but increasing oil exports to leave the overall marine risk about where it is now.
© Copyright Times Colonist
Posts on this website about the risk of oil spills on Metchosin’s shores:
Posts on the Ecological Reserves website about the threat of Oil Spills from Tanker Traffic
Posts on the Race Rocks website about the Risk from Increased Tanker Traffic
See the following posts for further information on Tanker traffic off our shores:
Review of Canada’s Ship-Source Oil-Spill Preparedness and response Regime:
Application to NEB by Board of Friends of Ecological Reserves
In the Christmas Bird Count this year, one of the marine birds noted in particularly high numbers was the Common Merganser, Mergus merganser, with a count of 258 along the Metchosin/Sooke shores.
I noted today( rainy and overcast) that there were 32 Common Mergansers ( 6 males and 26 females down on the north end of Taylor Beach . Often when we see them there throughout the winter, they are in smaller groups and are continually diving for food. Today the pattern was quite different as they were all in courtship mood. The males have a distinctive forward bow, then an upward stretch of their necks and then a quick scurry on the surface around a female. These are probably one of the most colourful seabirds on our coast and well worth looking for in protected bays and inlets during the winter. (Pedder Bay also often has a dozen or so) .
Of course these birds as other over-wintering seabirds in our water are very vulnerable to oil spills. If the Kinder-Morgan Pipeline goes through, The current risk from a maximum of 5 oil tankers going through the southern entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca each day, is bad enough, but when one contemplates the added risk of accidents from 34 tankers (each over 200 metres in length) plying our waters by 2015, the future for overwintering birds like this is rather dismal.
Other articles about this concern:
