Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - A waste education program from Powell River recently cleaned up an islet that was partially buried under tires. Cortes Currents republished the story from qathet Living and that probably would have ended the matter, except some of you had questions. The biggest one was something between shock and disbelief that such a beautiful Islet had actually been turned into a tire dump. So Cortes Currents asked Abby McLennan of Let’s Talk Trash for an interview.

Abby McLennan: “We first came across Tire Island when we were doing some scouting for shoreline cleanup projects this summer, so early June.

We are in partnership with the Ocean Legacy Foundation through the province's Clean Coast, Clean Waters Initiative. It was our second summer under this initiative. We saw this little island.”

“From afar, it looked like a bunch of black stuff on top of it, like little black mountains. As we got closer, we saw that it was actually tires. It was overwhelming the amount of tires we could just see from the water.”

“This little islet is on the east coast of Nelson Island, three quarters of the way down the island. You could see this islet when you're on the BC Ferry route heading from Saltery Bay to Earl's Cove. I took that route in October and could see it with my bare eyes from the ferry. It's hard to tell what exactly is on the island, but if you had binoculars it would show up as tires.”

“We didn't select it as a project in our initial round of cleanups just because it looked pretty complicated. There was no great landing spot and the amount of tires looked pretty overwhelming.”

“Later in the season, after all the established projects were complete, there was some underspent money in our budget, so I was like, ‘I'm now willing to take on this larger tire island project.’”

Cortes Currents: How many tires were there?

Abby McLennan: “2,409 tires.”

I was pleasantly surprised to be able to get 30 workers and a couple boat operators. So 33 people, in total, came out during the very last weekend of October, right when the weather turned. It was cold, a little bit drizzly and I was expecting to not be able to get all the tires. I was like, ‘We'll just get as many as we can. They'll know how many's left and that's better than nothing.’ But we were able to get every last single tire and not work a super full day. We were done by around 3:30-4:00 o’clock each of those days.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Quadra Island Foundation will be distributing approximately $100,000 to Quadra Island organizations during the Spring of 2023. According to their press release, Grant amounts will range from $10,000 to $20,000.

This money is part of the government of Canada's National COVID Recovery Fund to support charities, non-profits and indigenous governing bodies.

Quadra Island Foundation Treasurer Mitch Hirano explained:

“This program is available through three national streams the Canadian Red Cross, the United Way and the Community Foundations of Canada. We're a member of the Community Foundations of a Canada, and our funding flows through that portal.”

“Community Foundations of Canada is investing in systems and processes. So we're looking at supporting charitable organizations, nonprofit and indigenous groups that will fund one time projects investing in the system and processes that are involved in creating the internal workings of an organization and strengthening the organization's overall structure.”

Funding can go towards wages and employment related costs.

They could hire contractors to provide professional services and advice,

build new inventory for materials and supplies,

or purchase equipment for a project,

These funds could be for travel expenses for professional development,

staff training,

or event coordination and funding.

“The application portal will open on our website January 6, 2023 and we will receive applications until February 21. We'll be making the selection and allocation of the funds to the organizations during the period from February 21 to May 1, 2023.”

“Quadra Island Foundation is a registered charity. We are only able to support other charities that are defined as charities by the Canada Revenue Agency. We're not able to give directly to those nonprofits in our community, but we can do that indirectly through the community foundations of Canada.”

“We will process the applications and recommend the approval for the amount of funding to grant to these organizations. The actual check will be written by the community foundations of Canada at the national level, because they're able to have a little more flexibility in how they distribute their funding.”

“The charities, nonprofits and indigenous organizations will have a full year from May 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, to expend their funds and complete their projects. At the end of that, we would have to wrap it up and provide a report on how the funds were distributed and what was accomplished.”

Cortes Currents: Is this the largest amount of money that the Quadra Island Foundation has administered?

Mich Hirano: “We've only been in operation for two years. The other major project that we supported was in partnership with Quadra ICAN to put up solar panels on the Quadra Island School. It was a little bit of a hands-on project for the kids to see how solar it works. The funds flowed through the Quadra Island Foundation. We cut the check to the school district and they provided that back to the Quadra Island Elementary School. That was one of the major accomplishments of the Quadra Island Foundation.”

“Quadra Island has a pretty vibrant and strong community services network. I think that this funding needed in the community and it will certainly strengthen the services that these organizations are providing to the residents of Quadra.”

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/Folk U - Learn more about the role of journalist as truth teller and change maker with Rex Weyler, pulitzer prize nominated journalist and co-founder of GreenPeace on Folk U radio this week. Rex Weyler was a repeat special guest this year at the Cortes Island Academy and will join host Manda Aufochs Gillespie and student guest hosts from the CIA to talk a bit about his experience as a journalist over the years.

We will be joined in the latter part of the show by surprise musical guests (the Awakeners) for this jam-packed Folk U.

Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 and Mondays at 6:30 p.m./Wednesday at 6 a.m. @CKTZ89.5FM or livestreamed at cortesradio.ca. Find repeats anytime at www.folku.ca/podcasts.

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U - On Friday Dec 16, Folk U gave way to a Teen Take-Over with music and a bit of words from the students of Cortes Island Academy. A lot of people phoned in with requests. Cora Lee joined Manda Aufochs Gillespie as co-host.

Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 and Mondays at 6:30 p.m./Wednesday at 6 a.m. @CKTZ89.5FM or livestreamed at cortesradio.ca. Find repeats anytime at www.folku.ca/podcasts.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -Harbour Authority Cortes Island (HACI) has embarked upon a campaign to inform the public who they are and what they do. Harbourmaster Jenny Hartwick provided Cortes Currents with a concise description of the organization.

“The Harbour Authority is a nonprofit organization, which is made up of an eight volunteer board of directors. All of whom are local year round, residents and are actively involved in boating on Cortes, either commercial fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, or as recreational boaters. Under contract with Small Craft Harbours, the Harbour Authority is responsible for the operation and basic maintenance of the four government docks on the island: Squirrel Cove, Manson's Landing, Cortes Bay, and Gorge Harbour,” she said. “We also operate the Whaletown Dock, which was formally divested from Transport Canada in 2009. The Harbour Authority actually owns that dock outright.”

I asked one of the Directors, Andy Ellingsen, how the Harbour Authority came into being.

“It was around 1997, at the instigation of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) who ran most of the docks on the island. They felt they weren't getting good organization on the docks and the other thing that they were trying to do was derive some income from the docks. The docks had been free prior to that.”

“Small Craft Harbours, a division of DFO, came up to the island and did a presentation. They were interested in commercial fishermen primarily, but any dock users that were interested in seeing the docks operated on the island in a meaningful fashion were being consulted.”

“About 2000, maybe 2001, I attended a public meeting of the Harbour Authority group and was interested in what they were doing. I put my name forward and was elected to my first term as a director of the Harbour Authority of Cortes Island.”

“I've been a director of the organization pretty well since then, with one exception. The bylaws used to call for a two year term for directors before they have to stand down to get out of the way for new blood. That has since been changed. So with a one year break, I've basically been a director of the Harbour Authority since about 2002.”

“The primary mission from the perspective of Small Craft Harbours is serving the commercial producers. That would be the commercial fisherman. Now with their new recognition of the shellfish industry's contribution, they're recognizing that as a core value to Small Craft Harbours.”

“By contrast, I would say that the mission of the Harbour Authority of Cortes Island is to maintain the harbours because we are an island. We have a lot of people who use the water in a number of ways, some of which are economic and some of which are recreational and some of them just for fun. Those kinds of things have a real value to the people in our community and we recognize that.”

“While we work with Small Craft Harbours to make sure that the harbours are there and in good condition for the commercial fishing and the shellfish industries, we have put a lot of emphasis on making sure that the people who live on the islands and the people who have ‘boat access only residences’ have a way to get from the roads to their homes.”

“We've developed quite good working relationships with the Small Craft Harbours division of DFO. We are their local eyes and ears. For example, the anchors on the dock at Cortes Bay occasionally don't support the dock the way it needs to be supported. We let them know that the dock has shifted in the bad southeast wind and needs some attention pretty quickly.”

The responsibility for the repairs on the docks is divided. We do minor stuff, for example: replace a plank on a float, which is just a piece of two by six. When it comes to the major structural elements of the dock, that's Small Craft Harbours, but we're the ones that are pointing out that we see some problem coming up.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Dr Gideon Mordecai is a Research associate with the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at UBC. He is also the author of more than 20 scientific publications, the most recent of which reported the PRV1a virus in 70% of the 56 fish farms they studied.

Cortes Currents asked Dr. Mordecai,”Fish farms are claiming that BC's PRV1 isn't deadly for wild salmon. Is that true?”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents The Klahoose water taxi brought 52,000 Chum eggs to Squirrel Cove yesterday. ‘Goat 1’ tied up at the Klahoose dock around 11 AM.

“The eggs come from Tla'amin Fish Hatchery in Powell River. I think the amount is probably based on what they get on returns, because they have their own creeks and rivers where they get their Chum eggs,” explained Klahoose Fisheries Officer Byron Harry.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - In 2021, the Friends of Cortes Island received funding from the Habitat Stewardship Program to seek out the elusive Western Screech Owls. This research is being guided by the Pacific Megascops Research Alliance, and biologists from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship are part of the team. The first season was spring 2022.

According to Cortes Island biologist Sabina Leader Mense:

“We know they're here, why aren't they talking to us? The research results we got: not a hoot, not a peep, not a call. Nothing but lots and lots of questions.”

“The autonomous recording units, the ARUs, are just being analyzed now. Whatever was picked up by them during February and March of this year, that information's coming to us within the next month.”

“FOCI's been very successful at getting funding, again from the Habitat Stewardship Program, for two more years. So we'll be going out in February and March 2023, and we will have the information from the autonomous recording units. It is really important to know if there were Western Screech Owls calling at times when they just simply weren't answering us.”

“People are seeing the birds in the Discovery Islands. While we were doing transects down here in February and March, there were Western Screech Owls up on Sonora Island calling in behind some greenhouses in the Diamond Bay area. There was a Western Screech Owl predation by Ravens observed at Port Maurelle on Maurelle Island.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - On Monday, Dec 12, Gorge Harbour Marina Resort announced that its

seasonal liveaboard program will come to an end next Spring.

Jason Johnson, General Manager of QXMC as well as the resort, wrote, “GHMR has never, to the best of my knowledge, offered year-round live aboard opportunities but has run a small seasonal program in previous years where under ten vessels were hosted. In 2022, the program has seven vessels, under short term live aboard contract ending the end of April 2023. In all cases, the stays were contingent on contracts being signed, liability insurance coverage for each vessel and one vessel per person. While these changes were difficult for guests, it allowed the 2022 program to continue.”

The Harbour Authority of Cortes Island also manages a dock in the Gorge, so Cortes Currents asked Harbourmaster Jenny Hartwick if they accept liveaboards.

“No, At this point in time, the Gorge dock is at capacity for commercial aquaculture vessels. We do have some dinghy use for boat-access-only individuals, and that would fall under recreational moorage, but we do not take long-term moorage requests for recreational vessels at the Gorge dock,” she replied.

Hartwick explained that the Harbour Authority leases the Gorge dock from Small Craft Harbours.

“The mandate of Small Craft Harbors is to support the commercial fishing industry. That includes the broader aquaculture, commercial vessels in general, as well as First Nation ceremonial and food fish uses. We are required by our lease agreement with Small Craft Harbours to meet that mandate. At the Gorge Dock in particular, that facility is at capacity with commercial users and we don't have room for any additional recreational moorage.”

Cortes Currents asked, “Is there room at any of the other docks that the Harbour Authority manages?”

“We do currently have some designated liveaboard positions at the docks. We have one liveaboard position at Manson's landing, one liveaboard space at Cortes Bay, and three designated liveaboard spaces at Squirrel Cove. All of those positions are currently filled with designated users. At this point in time, we have a wait list for liveaboard requests at the dock. If anyone is interested in obtaining liveaboard status at one of our facilities, they would need to reach out to the Harbor Authority and I'm happy to put them on the wait list, but we don't have any available spaces at this point in time.”

Prior to the Marina releasing its announcement, one of the guests at their dock posted the following comment on Facebook:

“I was very happy to be back on Cortes, having spent much of my childhood there. Guess it is not the Cortes I knew anymore. The disrespect toward those who chose to live on the water has been a shock, to say the least. I understand there are issues with some irresponsible boat owners, but I certainly am not one of them. Though I had moorage options elsewhere, I chose Gorge Harbour because of the connection I had to the island and its people. I have literally spent thousands of dollars in the community so far…”

Johnson explained the resort’s position:

“With the full understanding that there is a housing crisis in BC and Cortes is certainly no different, we need to ensure that guests have access to the amenities needed for their short term stay as minimum expectations. The marina does not have pump out or sewer access. While the expectation is that vessels will leave and seek facilities accordingly, our marina is not equipped to offer this service. Water lines are not insulated and subject to freezing so we have a scheduled program whereby water is shut off daily and then restarted to avoid damage. This month we experienced a power outage whereby back up power was also affected and two live aboard gusts dependent on electric heat found themselves without heat. We mitigated this by hosting them up in other accommodation on site at our expense.”

De Clarke/Cortes Currents - The second part of an interview with Cortes Island's new Regional Director, Mark Vonesch