Cortes Currents
1,486 episodes - English - Latest episode: 1 day ago -Cortes Currents is a news platform that asks what's current in Cortes and the Discovery Islands. Web articles & radio podcasts: Cortes Island, Quadra Island, Discovery Islands, Campbell River: news, lifestyle, local politics, affordable housing, economy, food security, health, ferries, tourism, history, culture, environmental issues, sustainable forestry, oyster farming, the arts, First Nations, energy, climate change, overshoot
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Episodes
Powell River's tiskʷat mill closure
December 03, 2021 14:51 - 5 minutes - 12.8 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - After a century of operation, British Columbia’s oldest newsprint mill is closing down. Catalyst’s tiskʷat (tees-kwat) Mill, in Powell River, has been in operation since 1912. At one point one in every 25 newspapers worldwide used their paper. The mill closed down, for what initially though to be a temporary curtailment, on November 22nd. On December 1st their parent company, Paper Excellence, announced the closure was indefinite. Graham Kissak, Vice President...
Twelve fish farm applications: are they really leaving BC's open waters by 2025?
December 02, 2021 14:49 - 14 minutes - 32.1 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - BC Salmon farming companies applied to put a in new fish farm between the Discovery Islands and Broughton Archipelago and expand their existing facilities at 11 other locations around Vancouver Island. Two of the expansions, at Dixon Bay and Plover Point in Clayoquot Sound, have been already been granted. “We had a promise from federal government whereby they said in mandate letters to the minister of fisheries, they were going to transition the open net sa...
Folk U: Escape to the (far) past through 'Eyes of the Leopard'
November 29, 2021 17:42 - 1 hour - 270 MBManda Aufochs Gillespie/ Cortes Currents - Fantasy meets archeology on this Folk U as Professor Dr. Brian Hayden joins host Manda Aufochs Gillespie for a virtual book launch of his newest book this Friday at 1 pm. on CKTZ 89.5 FM or livestream on cortesradio.ca. Dr. Hayden best known for his work as an archeologist: he taught at Simon Fraser University for 40 years and is now a Research Associate at the University of British Columbia, fellow of the Royal Society of Canada: and, of course, a ...
The BC Salmon Farmers Association new ‘independent’ sea lice report
November 28, 2021 22:39 - 9 minutes - 22.6 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The BC Salmon Farmers Association has just released what they claim is an independent study of ‘Sea lice in the Discovery Islands.’ Their study is filled with terms like – “independent data,” “independently collected data,” “independent professional biological consultants,” “independently collected and analyzed scientific data,” “independent monitoring,” “independent sampling,” and “independent biologists” – but does not say who actually did the research. Wh...
Cortes at Fairy Creek 3: Law and Order
November 27, 2021 11:31 - 26 minutes - 23.8 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - the third installment of Cortes at Fairy Creek in their own words: Law and Order The personal experiences of seven Cortes Island residents. Photo taken from the Fairy Creek Blockade Facebook page
2021-11-26 Beach clean-ups, the Misty Isles and life between two worlds
November 26, 2021 14:56 - 13 minutes - 31.5 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Jonah's Fineman has been at sea for most of the last seven months, cleaning up beaches, showing tourists, the Marine wonders of our area. And as the captain of a scientific research vessel. He returned home briefly last week before sitting out again for the waters off Southern Vancouver island. He described the constant going from land to sea and back as being like straddling different planets. When he set out to sea as a 19 year-old, Fineman felt that that ...
Solar panels for Quadra Elementary School
November 25, 2021 12:59 - 8 minutes - 8.06 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Quadra ICAN will soon be installing 14 solar panels on the roof of Quadra Elementary School. Terratek Energy already has the panels and mounting system in stock. They are waiting for final approval, which should arrive in December. The system is expected to generate approximately 5.6 megawatt hours of power a year, which is what an average home uses and about 5% of the school’s electricity needs. As ICAN Energy Self-Sufficiency team members Jan Zwicky and Mik...
There is little time left to change, says Suzuki
November 24, 2021 21:01 - 17 minutes - 16.2 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - According to CHEK News, hundreds of people marched from Centennial Square to the steps of the B.C. Legislature on Saturday, November 20th. The “Funeral for the Future” was organized by Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island, and featured Dr David Suzuki as a speaker. “No more than one or a few decades remain before the chance to avert the threat will be lost,” said the former host of the Nature of Things. “We are in a sixth spasm of species loss. In May, a Uni...
Building special relationships: the Cortes Foundation
November 23, 2021 15:39 - 8 minutes - 7.73 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - In addition to being given charitable status, the Cortes Island Community Foundation developed some important relationships. “We recently were just accepted as a member into the Community Foundations of Canada and that’s also like a really big step for us,” explained Vice President/Treasurer Mark Spevakow. This is the governing body for about 200 community foundations, which range from small island organizations like Galiano and Salt Spring to the much large...
The Quadra Foundation's First Year since applying for charitable status
November 23, 2021 13:30 - 12 minutes - 29.5 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Chair Michael Mascall gave Cortes Currents and overview of how the Quadra Island Foundation came into being, and what it’s achieved during the year since it applied for charitable status. It was one of many endeavours that came into being through Quadra ICAN’s first public meeting, in March 2020. While only 35 people came, they brought some big ideas. Mascall was among them. He had recently been the executor of an estate that left a considerable amount of mon...
Connecting the dots between clear cut logging and BC’s mega-floods
November 22, 2021 14:52 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Vancouver based filmmaker Daniel J Pierce just released a film that attempts to connect the dots between clearcut logging and the mega-floods wreaking havoc on the BC Interior. He acknowledges that the climate is changing and there was an extreme event, but says this is only half of the story. “We have loaded the dice in favour of more of these such events by so badly degrading the hydrological functioning of the ecosystem.” Pierce cites scientific papers li...
Two ferries from Vancouver Island: No food or gas shortages on Cortes Island
November 21, 2021 16:58 - 4 minutes - 11.1 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The panic buying that swept through Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland last week has not reached Cortes Island. Eva, from the Gorge Harbour General store suggested that, “People on Cortes are probably better prepared.” The only place she noticed the shortage was gasoline, because the provincial government was limiting sales to 30 litres. Curt Cunningham, from the Squirrel Cove General Store, believes that rationing boosted his gasoline sales 50% – becau...
Treedom Rezoning Application Approved by SRD
November 20, 2021 21:41 - 2 minutes - 2.7 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - On Thursday, October 28th, a public hearing was held at Manson's hall on Cortes Island to discuss a rezoning application for the property known as Treedom the requested rezoning would permit the construction of an additional three homes. Public input was overwhelmingly positive. On Wednesday, November 17th, the SRD board agenda included a consideration of the application. and of the public hearing results. After brief discussion, the application was granted
Cortes at Fairy Creek: Part Two - Life In Camp
November 20, 2021 20:12 - 24 minutes - 22.8 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - I did a little oral history with seven local people who went to Fairy Creek to join that blockade: Margaret, Aaryn, Caitlin, Maya, and Dani from Bluejay lake farm, and Cec and Christine from Whaletown. Their voices have been woven together to create a narrative from multiple points of view, which will be broadcast as a series of half-hour episodes in November and December. Camp life photo taken from the Fairy Creek Blockade Facebook page
The Good News from COP 26
November 18, 2021 22:50 - 13 minutes - 30.5 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Dr Simmon Donner is an interdisciplinary climate scientist at the University of British Columbia. He studies some of the areas where the rise in global temperatures is most evident: ocean warming, sea-level rise; climate change adaptation in the developing world and coral reefs. In today’s Cortes Currents, he talks about the good news from COP 26.
A funeral for the planet this Saturday
November 18, 2021 00:45 - 8 minutes - 19.1 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island and Dr. David Suzuki will host a Funeral for the Future in Victoria this Saturday, November 20th. It starts at 12:30 PM in Centennial Square, after which participants will march to Bellevue street opposite the Provincial Legislature. Cortes Currents reached Dr. Don Goodeve, an organizer with Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island, at his home in Campbell River. “We could wait for other people around the planet to make a...
Folk U: Making Money Essentials
November 17, 2021 13:08 - 1 hour - 271 MBManda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U - Ready to change your mindset about money? Author and money educator Huong Luu joins Manda Aufochs Gillespie to dig deep dip into Money on Folk U Radio this Friday at 1 p.m. on CKTZ 89.5FM or cortesradio.ca. In this session you will learn: How to make it, how to get over your hang-ups about money, how to pay off your mortgage in 10 years, what will next year bring and much, much more. Get your questions answered!!!! Call in Friday during the 1p.m. live show a...
Folk U: CryptoCurrency 101 for Cortes
November 17, 2021 12:06 - 1 hour - 271 MBManda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U - What is CryptoCurrency and what can it do for YOU and your community? Learn about this form of currency, what it is, how it developed, and why it may matter to YOU. Adventure motorcyclist and cryptocurrency entrepreneur “Skenoo,” the eponymous CEO of Skenoo Ventures Inc joins host Manda Aufochs Gillespie to dig deep on this important and timely topic on Folk U Radio this Friday at 1 p.m. on CKTZ 89.5FM or cortesradio.ca. Let’s talk everything crypto, what it...
Will Cortes Island become home to a new outdoor high school experience?
November 16, 2021 22:02 - 8 minutes - 18.7 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - School District 72 has not yet decided, but there have been discussions about the possibility of offering outdoor high school courses on Cortes Island. “We've been engaging in discussions with the superintendent of the Campbell River school district to explore how we might do that,” explained Sadhu Johnston. Since the advent of COVID, the academic year has been broken up into four blocks. Johnston is proposing that some students can come to Cortes for two of ...
The Inspiration for Mothers Keep
November 15, 2021 22:34 - 5 minutes - 12.3 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Frank Wayne Mottl’s new book opens up in Gibsons, on the Sunshine Coast, a little more than a century ago. Like his first book, 'the Cumberland Tales', ‘Mother’s Keep’ blends the flavours of actual and imagined events. This has prompted readers to ask him about the characters. Mottl said his granny, one of the many World War I brides who came over from England, was the inspiration for Mother’s Keep. “She was a scullery. And the first chapter kind of deals w...
Cortes at Fairy Creek: Part One - What inspired them?
November 14, 2021 10:44 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - Most people are probably aware of the protest and blockade at Fairy Creek on Vancouver island. For over a year, forest defenders have blocked a logging road to prevent logging company Teale Jones from cutting intact old growth areas. For this special feature. I did a little oral history with seven local people who went to Fairy Creek to join that blockade. After a public appeal for interviewees, I managed to schedule recording dates with Margaret, Aaryn, Caitlin,...
The World is watching COP 26
November 13, 2021 19:50 - 28 minutes - 66.3 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - This is a condensed version of ‘The World is Watching COP 26,’ roughly 28 minutes of audio from a 54 minute Sierra Club BC production broadcast directly from Glasgow. It was hosted by Anjali Appadurai (Climate Justice campaigner) and Flossie Baker (Lead Organizer at Sierra Club BC). The full 58 minute Sierra Quadra video This is Appadurai’s 11th year of watching the COP process, during which time she has watched it decline from a regime that was attempting to...
Can Cortes Island students continue their schooling in Powell River?
November 12, 2021 11:52 - 5 minutes - 13.2 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Nine Cortes Island students are waiting to hear whether they will have to move to Campbell River during their high school years. This has been the norm for many Cortes families. Others sent their children to a boarding house in Campbell River during the week. The parents of nine Cortes students found another option. They send their children to a Powell River school two days a week, through the Partners in Education program (PIE), and teach them at home the other...
Harvesting salmon eggs on Cortes and the Greater Campbell River area
November 11, 2021 13:12 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Fisheries and Oceans Canada (or DFO) is working with local groups to harvest salmon eggs and throughout the Greater Campbell River area. Stacey Larsen, the DFO Community advisor for our area, recently came to Cortes Island. “The Klahoose First Nation hatchery has been working with DFO for several years. I know at least over ten,” she explained. “Prior to Chum enhancement, Coho enhancement was being done. At that time we had Coho eye-digs that were moved from...
Rainwater harvesting and other preparations for a less water secure future
November 10, 2021 20:39 - 6 minutes - 15.4 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - In the conclusion of a series of four broadcasts about the island’s looming water problem, Jude McCormick, Bernie Amell, Kris Wellstein and Mike Gall describe some of the initiatives the Quadra ICAN water security team is taking. They have good reason to suspect water is becoming less abundant , as the climate continues to shift and the expanding network of roads, ditches houses and other human infrastructure disrupts the penetration of rainwater. There are nu...
All about Island Aquifers
November 09, 2021 18:17 - 13 minutes - 30 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - This is the third in a series of programs arising from an interview with Quadra ICAN water security team members Jude McCormick, Kris Wellstein, Bernie Amell and Mike Gall. In a previous episode, they listed evidences that the groundwater supply is diminishing. This episode is dedicated to the sources of Quadra island’s groundwater and the things affecting them. Amell explained that only a limited amount of data is available. Some people have registered their ...
Quadra ICAN: All about registering groundwater wells
November 08, 2021 18:13 - 12 minutes - 29.3 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - With the deadline for registering irrigation, commercial or industrial use wells fast approaching, the Quadra ICAN water security team is concerned that some people may miss out. According to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development press release, “A water licence is not required for a household well or groundwater used for domestic purposes, such as watering lawns and gardens. Domestic groundwater users are encouraged ...
Update on CityWest’s progress in our area
November 08, 2021 13:07 - 4 minutes - 9.73 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Dino Tsakonas, Regional Manager for CityWest, gave Cortes Currents an update on the Connected Coast initiative to bring high speed internet connection to our area is progressing. The campaign to get Cortes Island residents signed up for free internet connection is over and CityWest is now focusing on the inhabitants of Denman and Hornby Islands. “We’re still working with the Ministry of Transport to finalize a bunch of details for Cortes, but they are just min...
The BC Government needs to consult with affected parties before making logging decisions
November 05, 2021 14:28 - 4 minutes - 9.89 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Campbell River Chamber of Commerce is protesting the provincial government’s handling of a proposed deferral of 2.6 million hectares of old growth forest. “The BC Government needs to sit down at a table with the First Nations, industry, labour and representatives from all the communities and have meaningful dialogue before they implement these deferrals. If they don’t, it is going to have devastating impact on all of our communities,” said Executive Direct...
Why Grand Chief Stewart Phillip is against Horgan's proposed old growth logging deferrals
November 05, 2021 13:06 - 9 minutes - 21.3 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, is among those speaking out against Horgan’s proposal to defer logging on 2.6 million hectares of the province’s most at risk old growth forests. He also spoke against “the alarming reduction of old growth forests due to unsustainable logging practises.” Phillip praised the “incredibly dedicated, committed, individuals who understand the incredible value of old growth forest” and are opp...
Quadra Island's impending water crisis
November 04, 2021 13:44 - 14 minutes - 33.6 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Quadra Island’s groundwater appears to be disappearing. “We need to figure out where it’s going, how much we have that we don’t know about and then how we can make sure that not just on the people on Quadra, but also the environment and businesses get they need,” said Jude McCormick, the leader of Quadra ICAN’s water security team. “It is a Herculean task and the first part is to make people aware that we have a problem.” In the first of a series about Quad...
Deferring 2.6 million hectares of BC's most at risk forests
November 04, 2021 00:11 - 12 minutes - 27.9 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - British Columbia is considering whether to defer logging on 2.6 million hectares of the provinces most at-risk old growth forests. Speaking as an individual, rather than Vice President of the Cortes Community Forest Cooperative, David Shipway’s response to news of the proposed deferment was, “It's essential and long overdue.” According to Jens Weiting of Sierra Club BC, the government’s technical advisory panel identified two thirds of the province’s 11.1 mil...
The Mystery Mountain Project comes to Cortes Island
November 02, 2021 12:15 - 28 minutes - 64.4 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - On Sunday November 7, Bryan Thompson and Susanna Oreskovic will be bringing The Mystery Mountain Project to Mansons Hall on Cortes Island. This is both a film and a book about about the 2018 Canadian Explorations Heritage Society (CEHS) trek to Bute Inlet, following in the footsteps of Don and Phyllis Munday’s 1926 expedition to scale Mount Waddington. There are several Cortes Connections. Local historian Judith Wilson met the Canadian Exploration expedition ...
The Blob may have dampened the Pacific Ocean's biological pump
November 01, 2021 13:01 - 15 minutes - 35.3 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - A new study suggests ‘the Blob’ of warmer ocean temperatures, which stretched over 3,200 kilometres off the coast of North America at its peak in 2014 and 15, may have temporarily dampened the Pacific’s ‘biological pump’ that acts as a carbon sink for fixed atmospheric carbon. “Up until this particular study there really hasn’t been, to our knowledge, the opportunity to look at scale on the impact of heat, or impact of a large temperature anomaly on how the mi...
8,000 Chum eggs harvested in Basil Creek
October 31, 2021 11:17 - 6 minutes - 14.6 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Around 8,000 Chum Salmon eggs were harvested in Basil Creek, Cortes Island, on Friday, October 29th. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the Friends of Cortes Island Streamkeepers (FOCI) and the Klahoose Hatchery were hoping to collect up to 40,000 eggs. DFO Community Advisor Stacey Larsen said that, if enough Chum return, there may be another chance to collect eggs this week. “The opportunity to use genetically local stock and get Chum salmon back into tha...
Rezoning Meeting for Treedom on Cortes Island
October 29, 2021 13:58 - 23 minutes - 54.8 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The rezoning meeting for an additional three buildings on the Treedom Ventures property, at 1062 Seascape Road, in Mansons Landing Landing, was held Thursday. This would bring the total number of buildings on this 82 acre property to 8, with an additional cabin. Between 25 and 30 people attended attended the in person component of the meeting and an unknown number attended through the internet or by phone. Four First Nations were contacted about this developme...
COVID 19 update for Oct 28, 2021
October 28, 2021 14:59 - 2 minutes - 6.64 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Yesterday, the BC Centre for Disease Control released the most recent statistics for the Greater Campbell River Local Health area, which includes Quadra and Cortes Islands, and extends from the Oyster River to Sayward. There were 5 active cases between October 17th and 23rd. This is much better than the 35 listed in the Comox Valley. From the onset of the pandemic until the end of September: there were 623 cases in the Comox Valley, which includes Horby and D...
New Disaster preparedness app coming to Vancouver Island
October 27, 2021 16:52 - 10 minutes - 24.5 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - A new disaster preparedness app is about to be deployed in seven Vancouver Island communities. Pilot projects will be launched in the Village of Tahsis, District of Tofino, City of Parksville, Town of Qualicum Beach and City of Nanaimo next month. Preparations are underway to bring the project onstream in the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District. Dr. Ryan Reynolds and team of UBC researchers created the Canadian Hazards Emergency Response and Preparedness Mobi...
A more environmentally friendly source of employment for communities
October 26, 2021 20:58 - 8 minutes - 19.9 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The President of the Wilderness Tourism Association (WTA) says eco-tourism could offer communities a reliable and more environmentally friendly source of employment than either fish farms or resource extraction. “There are some viable alternatives, if they had a fair shake and didn’t get booted out every time a clear cut wanted to go in,” said Breanne Quesnel, who is also one of the co-owners of Spirit of the West Adventures on Quadra Island. “As rural communi...
Teen vandalism getting out of hand in Campbell River
October 26, 2021 14:31 - 3 minutes - 7.49 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Teen vandalism is getting out of hand in Campbell River. “In the last year we've had teens shoot out people's windows with pellet guns, throwing rocks through windows, steal or move traffic control devices (creating very dangerous situations on the roadways), breaking fences, smashing peoples lawn lights, and spray painting and keying cars,” said RCMP Cst. Maury Tyre. “In September 2021, a group of teens between the ages of 13 and 15 were drunk behind the new ...
Spirit of the West Adventures: 2021 was a great summer for kayaking
October 26, 2021 11:41 - 5 minutes - 13.2 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -Spirit of the West Adventures had a much better season than expected. Co-owner Breanne Quesnel says that after BC’s interprovincial travel restrictions were lifted, last June,“we saw unprecedented demand for our particular outdoor experience.” The kayaking company adjusted their routine to be more COVID friendly. “For example we met customers in Squirrel Cove, instead of transporting them from Quadra,” explained Quesnel. “We didn’t accept as many reservation...
Folk U: Chief Kevin Peacey of the Klahoose Nation
October 24, 2021 19:00 - 1 hour - 186 MBManda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U - Chief Kevin Peacey of the Klahoose First Nation joined host Manda Aufochs Gillespie on Folk U Radio Friday October 22nd at 1 p.m. on CKTZ 89.5FM or cortesradio.ca. He talked about the Klahoose Nation, the new council and their goals, and more about their many enterprises including QCMC and the Klahoose Wilderness Resort, Klahoose Coastal Adventures, Klahoose Aquaculture, Cortes Forestry General Partnership, and their new acquisition of the Gorge Marina. Fol...
We Aren't Alone: Rural Islands Connect on FolkU
October 22, 2021 18:51 - 1 hour - 189 MBManda AUfochs Gillespie/Folk U - This Friday on Folk U Radio at 1 p.m. host Manda Aufochs Gillespie speaks with the Rural Islands Economic Partnership about how rural islanders and rural island based businesses can support, share, and thrive together. The Rural Islands Economic Partnership grew out of a recognition that while each Salish Sea island has its own unique community and culture, all islands share many common experiences and needs. Before the RIEP, there was no formal channel for i...
RCMP return to Fairy Creek
October 21, 2021 15:12 - 14 minutes - 32.8 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The RCMP returned to Fairy Creek last Friday, October 16. A post on the Fairy Creek Blockade Facebook page states 7 cars drove up, and 15 officers wearing blue standard-issue rain gear walked into the Forest Defender Headquarters. “They were coming and checking out the mountain before they came in full force Monday,” explained ‘Whirly-Bird,’ a Metis Forest Defender. Many thought that the fight over what has been called the last intact old growth ecosystem in ...
Newts - a 20 year celebration of Cortes Island’s most celebrated salamander
October 18, 2021 14:39 - 26 minutes - 60.9 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - It has been twenty years since George Sirk, then the island’s Regional Director, put up Cortes Island’s first Newt crossing signs. More recent arrivals probably know him better as the host of Cortes Radio’s ‘Nature Boy.' In today’s program he talks about the island’s most celebrated salamander. While highly informative, George is probably Cortes Island’s most outrageous stand up comedian. Forget reading this post, listen to his antics in the podcast to learn:...
Cleaning up the shoreline from Comox to the Discovery Islands
October 17, 2021 19:46 - 12 minutes - 28.2 MBRoy L Hales / Cortes Clean-up - The Campbell River Association of Tour Operators finished (CRATO) cleaning up Vancouver Island’s shoreline from Comox to Chatham Point, at the entrance of the Johnstone Strait, and is now working in the northern Discovery Islands. “It is such an inspiring story to see how the tour operators of Campbell River came together to not only clean things up, but train a whole new generation how to do that,” said Mary Ruth Snyder, Executive Director of the Campbell Ri...
Beach clean-ups in southern Discovery Islands
October 17, 2021 13:43 - 10 minutes - 24.4 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - A massive beach clean-up is underway in the intertidal zones of the Southern Discovery Islands. “The volume of debris we are finding is mind blowing. We are focusing on the larger items instead of the tiny little microplastics. We’re trying to get the larger items out before they become the microplastics,” explained Breanne Quesnel. “I know we have some very responsible aquaculture operations in our region, but the amount of aquaculture debris is mind boggling...
COP 26 is a waste of time, environmentalist says
October 15, 2021 16:46 - 12 minutes - 28.3 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Greenpeace co-founder Rex Weyler advises environmentalists to stay home, international conferences like COP 26 are a waste of time. “These climate conferences are not addressing the real root problem, which is overshoot of the human species on earth, and they are not doing anything about the one symptom they are addressing, which is climate change,” he said. There have been 34 climate meetings since 1979, when the first global conference was held in Geneva. ...
SRD asks Lytton how it can help out
October 15, 2021 13:07 - 5 minutes - 11.8 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - It has been more than three months since the village of Lytton burned to the ground, displacing nearly 1,300 people, and the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) is reaching out to see if it can help. This initiative was inspired by a commitment made in the Regional District of Mount Waddington (RDMW), in northern Vancouver Island. “To help Lytton rebuild, the Electoral Area Directors of the RDMW will contribute one dollar for every person in their representat...
Southern resident killer whales are not starving due to lack of BC chinook, study finds
October 14, 2021 12:20 - 10 minutes - 24.6 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The widespread belief at-risk southern resident killer whales are starving due to a lack of chinook salmon has been debunked. A UBC led study found there are actually more than four times as many salmon in their territory than that of their supposedly better fed kinsmen north of Cortes Island. This was not what the authors expected to find, when they compared the numbers of Chinook entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca to those just north of Campbell River, in...