The Float

The Float

What a week of chaos! It started with an “emergency” run to Campbell River to get new starting batteries for the Moody Blue. Then, immediately afterwards, the northwest gale picked up again, this time with real intent. We started getting gusts of up to 40 knots blowing in towards shore. That’s when our anchor, which had been holding fine for the past two months, decided to drag.

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Current Studies Using an ADCP

Current Studies Using an ADCP

Equipment

Current studies were performed using a 0.4 MHz Nortek Aquadopp acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). The ADCP was mounted in a downwards-looking orientation on a retractable ADCP boom attached to the side of the research vessel. The retractable ADCP boom-mount used by Ocean Ecology was a highly modified adaptation of the concept presented by Hench et al. (2000) (A portable retractable ADCP boom-mount for small boats).

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Flora Bank Eelgrass Survey

Flora Bank Eelgrass Survey

Skeena River Estuary

The Skeena River originates high in the coastal mountains of northwestern British Columbia, at the edge of the Spatsizi Plateau, and flows 610 km to reach the Pacific Ocean. Draining a total area of 54,400 km2, the Skeena is the second largest river in the province, and one of the longest un-dammed rivers in the world.

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I Never Thought I’d Own an ATV

I Never Thought I’d Own an ATV

“You’re going to need a tractor”, one friend advises sagely. Another friend, who owns a remote piece of property up in the Hazelton area, tells us how useful his ATV has been for working around the property. Fifty acres is a lot of land – our friends tell us that we will need something with an engine. However, neither of us really wants to have yet another gasoline engine to feed, with the ever-increasing costs of fuel. And it seems to go against our principles to have a “motor vehicle” on the property. However, the last straw comes from the contractor who is designing the cabin for our site. “You’re not going to hand bomb all the materials up from the beach, are you?” he asks in disbelief. “The last time I had to do that …” and he goes off into stories of pain and injury. OK, I’m convinced to look at options. Maybe we’ll get a winch and a trailer. “I’ll check into things”, I tell the contractor. “Look at used ATVs”, he advises. “You might be able to get something cheap …”

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Smoke on the Horizon

Smoke on the Horizon

We are heading across Johnstone Strait to Kelsey Bay, and the day is just breaking. This is not your usual sunrise, however. The sun peers over the horizon like the bloodshot eye of some strange beast. Dark clouds form a horizontal band across the sun that resembles the slit pupil of a reptile. The smoke on the horizon is an eery reminder of one of the outcomes of a too hot summer – forest fires.

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