sadly 29-3 is closed till end of sep 30th
I"m not angry. I would however like someone to justify how the Minister could not consider the safety of small vessels in big water by pushing them further offshore to transit around area 21 when travelling up and down the coast. A lot of us run from the safety of the Gulf Islands to Barkley Sound. We don't need to be any further offshore, nor do we need to extend our transit time, Especially when there is a bit of wind coming
So now we are bartering safety second over fishing openings? Some of us transit that area when traveling on weather windows from Victoria to Bamfield for example. Getting pushed further offshore or extending transit time doesn't make any sense to a prudent mariner or fisherman, of which I am both. Did the speed reduction come from Transport Canada or fisheries?
Or perhaps the easy way to implement MPA's without a lot of fuss?
Possibly. However this speed reduction has no science backing. The speed reduction in Haro and Boundary do not apply to high speed small craft as the science claims the higher frequencies do not affect the whales feeding. The low frequency stuff from ships as in the ECHO program is purely about noise reduction in the water column. This speed reduction for ALL vessels at Nitinat has no foundation as whale strikes are not an issue with Orca on this coast. It on jeopardizes the safety of Mariners. Should it not be directed at vessels greater than 20m?
The speed reduction measure is aimed at reducing risk of accidental collision between vessels and SRKW. Lower speeds mitigate risk of vessel strikes, and there have been vessel strikes so its not correct to characterize there is no science behind the measure.
How could it be way worse for Pender Island? Even a small shoreline corridor along the south side of North and South Pender could have provided somewhere for a handful of small local boats to go but obviously nobody was there to propose and fight for it and DFO certainly would not want to interfere with the look of their blanket closure of the whole area. We were written off by the whole process. So the deep sea boats keep plowing through the area and the rec boats from the U.S. will keep streaming into Bedwell Harbour to clear customs and then proceed up Pender Bluffs heading north through the whole summer, but that is OK because a handful of local rec fishers have be barred from the area. What a disgrace.
Ship Strikes far and few between. They use Luna as example, a rogue whale that was bent on harassing mariners and died as a result of playing in the propeller of a tug. Not small fishing vessels less than 20 m. Most likely these strikes would be caused by a high speed ferry but we don't see them participating in the ECHO program or reducing speed, as the general public wouldn't want to be inconvenienced and BCF wouldn't want the extra cost. The science I speak of is the ECHO program high frequency vs low, don't twist my words please.
Not twisting your words...you suggest there is no science behind speed reduction as a mitigation tool ( i simply provided that ) - and further you state that there is limited evidence for ship strikes characterizing them as few and far between. I don't believe the UBC researchers would concur with that assessment. Any vessel poses a risk of collision, I'm not so sure a 20m vessel represents lower risk other than being more maneuverable to avoid if they happen to see a whale. In the absence of further research to determine which vessel types are actually colliding with whales, I would expect DFO will default to the precautionary principle to guide application of these measures on a SARA listed species.
Well said. We are trying to move The ECHO program in Haro and Boundary towards a "Dynamic" program that is active when whales are present In some areas we have hydrophones that can triangulate the position of whales. The next move would be to broadcast it via AIS or use the WRAS app to adjust shIp speed and or position. Makes much more sense. I honestly feel that small vessels enroute are not affecting the SRKW.
Are you familiar with the ECHO program?
Yes quite familiar with ECHO, and not really connecting the dots as to your point re ECHO and these measures...ECHO has nothing to do with small vessels and modifying it to apply to small vessels (ie...AIS) is unlikely so sorry I'm not following. Similarly the Seasonal Vessel Slow Down strategy has nothing to do with ECHO - which DFO clearly stated.
