Trevor Anderson , former Light Keeper at Race Rocks dies at 103

Obituary: Trevor Anderson: James Bay fixture was a lighthouse keeper, sailor and war veteran

It was in the late 1970s that Trev and Flo Anderson convinced us at Lester Pearson College that we should seek some form of protection for the unique ecosystems at Race  Rocks. It was as a result of their urging that we worked to get the Archipelago of islands at Race Rocks  designated as a provincial Ecological Reserve in 1980.


 Link to the Victoria Times Colonist article

For more than 15 years, Trev Anderson was a fixture in James Bay, sitting in his favourite chair on the front porch of his Niagara Street home in his signature black hat, waving, chatting and even blowing the odd passersby a kiss.

In return, Anderson, who died Monday at the age of 103, got to pet all the dogs in the neighbourhood and a chance to taste a sampling of brownies for his sweet tooth.

Those he greeted would have little idea of the colourful life the friendly senior had lived.

That life included narrowly escaping after his plane was shot down in the Second World War, becoming a lighthouse keeper in the early 1960s, and building a 55-foot sailboat to live on board for eight years — despite little knowledge of how to sail.

“My dad was vivacious up to the end — that’s just how he lived life,” said Adrianne Lowden, the youngest of Anderson’s four children with wife Flo (Florence), who died in 2017.

“He was as tough as nails but he also had an incredible sense of humour.”

Trevor Maxwell Anderson was born in Regina, Sask., on Oct. 22, 1920. His family moved to northern British Columbia when he was around six and he spent some of his teenage years in Shawnigan Lake, finally moving to Victoria in his late teens.

He enlisted in 1941, receiving training as a wireless operator and gunner. He was stationed in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Sicily, flying in B-25 bombers attached to the Royal Air Force.

When not operating the Morse code machine, he was responsible for two 50-calibre machine guns in the bomber’s belly.

His plane was shot down on his fourth mission, crash-landing in the Mediterranean Sea — there is a picture of the stricken plane, taken from another plane in the formation, on the wall of his James Bay home.

“Dad told me that the only way out was through a 10-inch [square] window — he remembered kicking it,” said Lowden.

She said that her father can’t recall how he managed to fit through the small opening, as he was wearing heavy gear to keep out the cold and an inflatable jacket as well.

All the crew survived the crash and scrambled onto a life raft. They were picked up by a fishing boat, but the engine died, delaying their return to dry land for three days.

The experience did not deter Anderson from returning to the air. He completed a total of 55 missions, with the usual number for gunners typically running 25 to 30.

It was during his tour of North Africa that he began to write to Flo, his future wife.

In one of the letters, he asked her to marry him — and she accepted. They married in 1944 and the two were together until Flo’s death.

He enlisted with the Air Force upon his return from North Africa, retiring in 1960.

The following year, with Flo and two boys and two girls in tow, he became a lighthouse keeper, initially on Lennard Island, on the southwest entrance to Templar Channel, north of Tofino.

The family became “rock ­hoppers” stationed at various lighthouses, including Green Island, 40 kilometres northwest of Prince Rupert, the ­northernmost lighthouse that was staffed.

In 1966, they were assigned to Race Rocks, where they remained until Anderson retired for the final time in 1982.

While he was on Race Rocks, he got the notion of building a sailboat, though he was a novice sailor.

It took the couple seven years to build a 55-foot ketch — a two-masted sailboat — which they christened WaWa.

They learned to sail, cruising the Gulf Islands and circumnavigating Vancouver Island before heading to the South Pacific in 1985.

“My parents gave us incredible lives,” said Lowden. “My siblings and I had the fortune to grow up fully and share the adventure.”

She said both her parents wrote books about their experiences. Her mother wrote an autobiography called Lighthouse Chronicles about the lighthouse years, while her father wrote The War and I about his wartime experiences, with both of them collaborating on All At Sea about their time on the water.

After their South Seas adventure, they returned to Victoria in 1987, living aboard WaWa for another eight years. After selling the boat, they jumped into a camper and travelled around North America until 1999, when they returned to Victoria.

The couple settled into the 1904 house on Niagara Street that Flo’s parents had originally bought in 1959.

That’s where Anderson would sit on the front porch and greet passerby from his favourite old armchair. Once he determined that the neighbourhood was safe and secure, he would retire for his afternoon nap.

“He was up and about until about two weeks ago,” said Lowden

Since his 100th birthday, Anderson’s children, Adrienne, Beth, Stan and Garry, have been putting up a banner on the front porch saying “TREV, Happy Birthday,” followed by his age.

This week, the birthday wishes were replaced with Bon Voyage as a send-off for a life well-lived.

parrais@timescolonist.com

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Race Rocks Ecological Reserve First Nations Burial Cairns added to the Megalithic Portal

This week a representative of the Megalithic Portal offered to include the First Nations Burial Cairns at Race Rocks Ecological  Reserve on their website.  Below is a link to the entry.  

Darcy Mathews explains his findings on the burial cairns to the Anthropology Class from Lester B.Pearson College

 

 

 


Students from the  Anthropology class at Lester Pearson College accompanied Dr.Darcy Mathews on a field trip and received an explanation about the importance of these burial cairns in 2013.

Index of Articles Published on Race Rocks ER in the Friends of Ecological Reserves Log-1988-2023

ECOLOGICAL RESERVES — NEWS/ARTICLES: 

#97 Race Rocks: threatened loss of keeper — Fall 1996

#97 Race Rocks: marine protected area — Autumn 1998

#97 Race Rocks Marine Protected Area — Winter 2000

#97 Race Rocks news update — Winter 2001

#97 Race Rocks: ER to Marine Protected Area — Spring 2003

#97 Race Rocks: An Unusual Model — Winter 2004
===========================================

VISITS and REPORTS:

#97 Race Rocks — Spring 1988

#97 Race Rocks — October 1989

#97 Race Rocks — Spring 1997

#97 Race Rocks — Fall 1997

#97 Race Rocks field trip — Winter 2005

#97 Race Rocks field trip — Winter 2006

#97 Race Rocks field trip — Spring/Summer 2013

#97 Race Rocks: Pungent to Educational — Winter 2007

#97 Race Rocks Visited — Autumn 2008

#97 Race Rocks Re-Visited — Spring/Summer 2010

#97 Race Rocks Trip — Spring/Summer 2014
===============================================

ARTICLES:

Race Rocks ER: Marine Protected Area — Aut./Win. 2009

Elephant Seal Born at Race Rocks — Winter 2008

Race Rocks: Elephant Seals Born — Spring/Summer 2018

===============================

PROFILES:

Trev Anderson — Autumn-Winter 2020

Pam Birley — Autumn/Winter 2010

=====================================

Link to the Index of publications on British Columbias other Ecological reserves 

 

In Memoriam : Pam Birley

For many years we had the privilege of having many contributions to the Race Rocks website by Pam Birley of Leicestershire, England. Pam was a regular observer on our remote-controlled cameras, and she made the most observations of any outside viewer on the website. For 10 years, from 2004 to 2013, she produced a monthly set of images, which we consider to be  a most valuable baseline record of the animal life at the ecological reserve during those years,  https://racerocks.ca/pam-birleys-images-of-race-rocks-2004-2013/

Clicking on   https://racerocks.ca/?s=Pam+Birley&submit=Search illustrates how prolific Pam was in reporting on unique as well as regular events at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.  In 2005 and 2008  we were able to accompany Pam and her husband Dennis on trips to Race Rocks. She loved keeping track of activities of the sea birds and marine mammals and several times she was the first to report the birth of an elephant seal pup early in the year. We also mused that if a shingle was loose on a roof of one of the buildings, Pam would be the first to let us know. 

We are so sad to hear recently of her passing and we will miss her contributions greatly 

The Origins of an Ecological Reserve-Trev Anderson turns 100

Trevor Anderson at age 100

On October 22nd  we were invited to the 100th year  birthday party for Trevor Anderson, the light keeper at Race Rocks when it became an Ecological Reserve. Trev and Flo Anderson had arrived at Race Rocks with their family in 1966, and served at the station until they had built a boat and left to sail across the Pacific Ocean in 1982. They had been married for 70 years in 2014  and  Flo Anderson passed away in 1977.

  I first met the Andersons in 1976 and the students from Lester Pearson College in the Diving Marine Science and Biology programs started coming out to the Islands for field trips and SCUBA diving, with some even spending their project weeks studying and working at the islands. Students in the Diving and Sea Rescue Services at Pearson College developed a close relationship with these neighbours 5 km out at sea. After many of our dive sessions whenour students were invited into their home for tea and cookies, the students would talk excitedly about the incredible sea-life they were seeing at under water. In the late 1970s we started to visit Race Rocks more frequently and the Andersons invited students to stay on project weeks. 

Trev and Flo were the first to plant the seed of an idea urging us to see if we could get the government to do some formal recognition and protection of the Race Rocks Area.  What they could see at low tide alone was impressive enough, but if the underwater life also could be protected, that would be ideal.  In the years 1997 and 1998 we recorded the unique life underwater by logging dives from over 80 locations throughout the Race Rocks archipelago, and by February of 1979 a highly successful workshop took place, with officials invited from the Provincial Museum, the University of Victoria, and the Ministry of Parks who were all enthusiastic and supportive of our proposal.

Throughout that year we worked at the task of formalizing our proposal, presenting it to cabinet and lobbying to get action. Two students in diving and marine science, Johan Ashuvud from Sweden and Jens Jensen from Denmark were especially relentless in their pursuit of our goal. The proposal had to clear 11 agencies in the government bureaucracy and the cabinet before the Reserve could be proclaimed. These two students invited the Director of the Ecological reserves Branch Bristol Foster, and the Deputy Minister of Parks Tom Lee out to dive and then kept following it up with phone calls, even after hours! Their persistence finally paid off when after a year, the shortest time any reserve proposal has ever taken, the Minister of Parks was able to request Prince Charles on his visit to the college as international board president (April 1980) to make the formal announcement proclaiming Race Rocks the 97th Provincial Ecological Reserve.

The day we received the information that the reserve was proclaimed by the Ecological Reserves Branch of the Ministry of Lands Parks and Housing, The group of students who had worked so hard on the proposal went out to Race Rocks to give the news to Trev and Flo and present them with a very unofficial looking sign. 

 

The next week Trev and Flo asked the group of students who had worked so hard to establish the Ecological Reserve to come out to the island one afternoon where they presented the students with medals and “The Order of Race Rocks” as recognition and appreciation for their work in creating the Ecological reserve. 

 


Trev, Hans, Johan, Iina, Garry, Jens and Flo

 

FER Board member Garry Fletcher taught at Lester Pearson College from 1996 to 2004 and has been the ecological reserve warden for Race Rocks since 1980.

 

Sea Lion Rescued Near Victoria (Times Colonist , Sept 9, 2020)

From: https://www.timescolonist.com/sea-lion-rescued-near-victoria-with-plastic-band-around-its-neck-1.24199804

Veterinarian Martin Haulena from the Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Centre attends to the injured sea lion.

photo: MARA RADAWETZ

 

 

 

A sea lion with a plastic packing band cinched around its neck was rescued near Race Rocks on Sunday, thanks to the combined efforts of rescue teams from Victoria and Vancouver.

The struggling sea lion was first spotted by Mara Radawetz, who lives in the decommissioned lightkeepers’ residence at Race Rocks, just off the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Radawetz, who monitors the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve with partner Kai Westby on behalf ­Metchosin’s Pearson College, saw the sea lion several times during the week in nearby Juan de Fuca Strait, and said the marine ­mammal was clearly in distress.

“He was scratching constantly at his wounds, which were cutting into his skin,” ­Radawetz said.

She contacted Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Centre, Canada’s only dedicated marine mammal rescue facility and one of the largest rescue facilities in the world, to help free the sea lion from the plastic packing band wrapped around its neck.

Two large Zodiac boats ­carrying the rescue team and several veterinarians arrived Sunday morning, and quickly found the sea lion, Westby said. After being given a tranquilizer ­injection by veterinarian Martin Haulena from the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre, the sea lion was brought onto the shores of Race Rocks and treated.

The plastic band was removed and tracking tags were attached to the animal’s front flippers. A blood sample was also taken, to assist with future studies. After being given a drug to reverse the effects of the tranquilizer, the sea lion was back swimming within minutes, Westby said. “It was great to see them help out an animal that was in such great pain.”

Suffering caused by man-made material such as plastic is an increasingly common problem among sea lions, Westby said. As permanent residents on Race Rocks, he and Radawetz see their share of injuries to sea lions.

“It can be pretty sad to see. They live for 20 years or 30 years, and as the animal grows, the band cuts through its skin. It becomes a really painful-looking wound.”

mdevlin@timescolonist.com

Article on Race Rocks and Garry Fletcher, October, 2019

 GARRY FLETCHER

Marine science teacher and Race Rocks champion

BY MARIANNE SCOTT

To visit Garry Fletcher at his home requires a drive through the countryside of south Vancouver Island that seems hundreds of miles from the cities that house most of us. His house in Metchosin, near his son’s organic market farm, looks out over sheep trimming the meadow bordering the Juan de Fuca Strait. An espaliered kiwi vine hugs the deck, nectarine and peach trees provide fresh fruit, rhubarb thrives and herbs enliven meals. Garry grew up on a small Saskatchewan farm; it mixed growing food with raising cattle. Farm life inspired his interest in biology, which he studied at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. After earning a master’s degree in science curriculum, he taught in Swift Current where he met his wife Helen, who taught English. He was then invited to teach biology at the United Nations International School in New York.“They offer an internationally recognized baccalaureate degree,” he said.“But in 1976, after being mugged in the city, we accepted an offer to come to Pearson College, in Metchosin, thinking we’d be here for, maybe, four years.” But Pearson, its students, curriculum and nautical location ensnared him and he and his family have never left.

PEARSON COLLEGE is a special place. Located on south Vancouver Island’s Pedder Bay, it’s one of 18 United World Colleges and offers a two-year pre-university baccalaureate diploma that covers grade 12 and a gap year for up to 200 students.These students, who represent more than 150 countries, live, study and grow together. Pearson’s mission is to “make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.”

At Pearson, Garry began teaching biology, marine science and scuba diving. Jack Matthews, the then College head, gave teachers great freedom to develop their own sphere.“I was able to build an interdisciplinary marine science course that included chemistry, physics and biology,” Garry recalls.“We have this unique situation here at Pearson. Fresh and saltwater, marine ecosystems, forests. I took the class diving, 15 on a boat. We had substantial blocks of time.”

Meeting Trevor and Flo Anderson, lighthouse keepers at Race Rocks, further revolutionized his teaching and interests. Race Rocks, an archipelago of nine jagged islets lying eight miles from Victoria, is the southernmost point of Pacific Canada.The islands are the pinnacles of a large underwater mountain. The lighthouse was the second to operate in BC and was constructed of Scottish granite brought as ballast aboard British sailing ships.The Rocks are named after the passage separating it from Vancouver Island and has a tidal race reaching seven knots. When strong tides and winds oppose each other, standing waves can grow to 10 feet.The upwelling from the currents provides an exceptionally abundant environment for animal and plant life. Some of the islets are favourite perches for Steller and California sea lions, and elephant seals and harbour seals sunbathe here.

“My philosophy of teaching is to instill the concept of ecosystems’ integrity and sustainability,” Garry says.“I explain we’re not on a chain, we’re in a life web. I ask students to  assess their project’s sustainability. Does it have biological integrity? Does it impact the food web or energy flows? What services do ecosystems provide? We must weigh what things will look like in 100 years, not just next year.”

THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPERS welcomed Garry and students to Race Rocks.“The Andersons knew the uniqueness of the region,”he says.“We dived near the rocks, although with the currents, it could be dangerous. We surveyed and created maps of underwater marine life and collected data on birds and marine wildlife.”

In 1980, this work led to connections with the predecessor to the Ministry of Environment. That ministry managed the “Ecological Reserves” program—areas set aside because of their exceptional natural features, and for their scientific and educational significance. Garry and his students asked the Ministry to add Race Rocks to the list of protected areas.

“Remarkably,”says Garry, grinning,“Prince Charles, the United World Colleges’ chair, came here for a board meeting. We told the ministry the Prince might announce that Race Rocks had become an ecological reserve. Our proposal was approved in record time.”Garry began serving as the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve warden and reported on the Pearson team’s ongoing research. He urges others to propose ecological reserves and has developed an“adopt an ecosystem”template to develop proposals, which can be found online.

MEANWHILE, A MICROWAVE tower delivering live video of island life was built.Two cameras still run today.

Race Rocks Lighthouse was one of the first two built in BC. Race Rocks Lighthouse was one of the first two built in BC. islands are too small for visitors,” says Garry.“So Pearson grad Ken Dunham developed the network that allowed live- streaming internet video—one of the first such projects in North America. During an Apple conference in New York, I was in a boat off Race Rocks live webcasting with a diver filming underwater (Apple later provided access to live streaming on their network). Our students were very hands-on and we delivered other live webcasts of Race Rocks’ intertidal and subtidal zones to schools. It was new and exciting at the time.”

IN THE ‘90S, David Scott (disclosure—my husband) and Ged McLean and grad students from the University of Victoria’s Institute for Integrated Energy Systems took on separate research studies on the feasibility of obtaining electricity from solar, wind and tidal energy at Race Rocks.“These were tests to determine if any of these alternative energy sources were feasible in this natural laboratory,” says Garry.

A BC ministry funded the solar panels and, with an array of batteries, provided the electricity to help power the islands, thereby reducing the diesel needed to run generators. With additional collectors, they still function today. “The 40 solar panels generate enough power in the summer to make the islands energy self-sufficient,” explains Garry. Solar was judged to be more practical than wind and no windmills were built.

THE CLEAN Current Tidal Power Demonstration Project at Race Rocks was the first such project in Canada and the sponsor, EnCana, wanted to assess if the turbine placed in Race Passage could produce electricity during both ebb and flood currents. UVic and Pearson students collaborated on the project.“This was a case study,” says Garry. “Our students dove often to apply coatings that might prevent fouling of the turbine’s blades.”

Alas, the experiment was discontinued after six years. Photos show that giant barnacles and other ocean life had colonized the turbine. “It was just too expensive to maintain,” says Garry.

Pearson continues its protection of Race Rocks. After the federal government destaffed the lighthouse, the College signed a long-term lease and pays for an eco-guardian to provide a constant human presence on the island.

GARRY, now retired, has been recognized for his imaginative and enthusiastic use of technology in the classroom. He’s active in environmental issues. He condemns the doubling of the Trans Mountain Pipeline and has been an intervenor at the National Energy Board hearings. He cultivates and sells mason bees to augment the population of pollinating insects. He’s analyzed the Race Rocks’ water temperature and salinity data collected since 1921.

“Every month, the median temperature is at least one degree Celsius higher than in 1921,” he warns. As a part of a UVic research program, he’s installed malaise traps on his property to help establish baseline data on insect biomass.

Further reading:
metchosinmarine.ca
ecoreserves.bc.ca
racerocks.ca
gfletcher.ca

Steller sea lion with plastic around neck rescued on Vancouver Island

From The Goldstream Gazette BC LOCAL NEWS

Sep. 22, 2019 12:00 a.m.
PHOTOS: Steller sea lion with plastic around neck rescued on Vancouver Island

Rescue staff determined the plastic band cut the protected animal’s neck approximately two inches

A Steller sea lion is recovering after being disentangled from a piece of plastic that cut its neck approximately two inches.The male sea lion, weighing approximately 500 kilograms, was reported to the Vancouver Aquarium marine mammal rescue centre team after it was seen near Sooke with a plastic packing band wrapped tightly around its neck.Rescue staff, along with officers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and a veterinarian from the SeaDoc Society, joined forces Monday at the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve to rescue the animal, which is protected in Canada as a species of special concern under the federal Species at Risk Act.

Rescue staff joined forces with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the SeaDoc Society to disentangle the sea lion at the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. (SeaDoc Society photo)

Since Race Rocks is made up of rough terrain and has strong currents, it took hours of jockeying positions for Martin Haulena, the head veterinarian at the aquarium, to dart and sedate the sea lion. Haulena did this from a distance using an air-powered dart containing immobilization agents.

Over the past two decades, Vancouver Aquarium head veterinarian Martin Haulena has helped develop a precise drug combination to ensure that sea lions can be safely freed, without harming itself or others. (SeaDoc Society photo)

The sea lion entered the water after being darted, which Lindsaye Akhurst, manager of the aquarium’s rescue centre said is a common response. Then, with the help of Race Rocks Eco-Guardians in the lighthouse acting as “eyes in the sky,” the team was able to spot the sea lion in some kelp and remove the plastic band that had cut into the animal’s neck approximately 2 inches.

Once the sedated sea lion was located in the water, the rescue team discovered that while the top of the plastic band was still slightly mobile, the bottom, or ventral portion, had cut into the animal’s neck approximately two inches. (SeaDoc Society photo)

A release from Ocean Wise said “the depth and severity of the wound indicated that the plastic had been there for some time.”

In between darting attempts, the Vancouver Aquarium marine mammal rescue team had to pause rescue efforts due to the presence of Southern resident killer whales from J and K pods. (SeaDoc Society photo)

Team members tagged the sea lion’s flippers so if there are further reports about it rescuers will be able to identify the animal.

READ MORE: Entangled humpback calf rescued off west coast of Vancouver Island

To date, rescue centre staff have rescued over 20 entangled sea lions.

B.C. surveys have documented hundreds more entangled sea lions in recent years, the release said, with some of the worst plastic offenders being ghost gear, including nets and ropes, and discarded trash such as the plastic packing bands used in packaging and shipping, which ensnare animals.

Not only are plastic items uncomfortable for marine mammals, Akhurst said, but the sea lions continue to grow while the plastic around them does not, which sometimes results in death.

READ MORE: Brand new vessel for Massett Marine Rescue

Akhurst said Ocean Wise is working with the Fisheries and Oceans Canada on a stronger disentanglement program that specifically targets pinnipeds, a group that includes seals, sea lions, and walruses.

In late fall, a multi-day outing is planned that will focus on this problem on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

READ MORE: Sea lion tangled in rope on Vancouver Island

If you see a marine mammal that you believe is in distress, stay back, keep people and pets away, and call the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre at 604-258-SEAL (7325), or the Fisheries and Oceans Canada hotline at 1-800-465-4336.


karissa.gall@blackpress.ca

Oil cleanup near Island impossible much of the year TC May 2019

I was involved as an intervenor  in the NEB reconsideration Hearings in the fall of 2018. We presented the wind data from Race Rocks which confirms much of the information in this newspaper article. Note Race Rocks is also  mentioned below:

From The Times Colonist -Island Voices: May 26 2017 

Oil cleanup near Island impossible much of the year

If an oil spill occurred in the Juan de Fuca Strait, a cleanup would be impossible or severely limited 198 days of the year, according to Christianne Wilhelmson, executive director of the Georgia Strait Alliance

If you are wondering whether our coast is ready for an oil spill, you might like to know that responding to one at the mouth of the Juan de Fuca Strait, near Port Renfrew, would be impossible or severely limited 198 days of the year.
As part of the National Energy Board’s re-review of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, Georgia Strait Alliance examined the physical limits of booms, which are foundational pieces of equipment to contain and deflect spilled oil. We compared their limits to wind, wave and currents along the tanker route, and found that responding to a spill on our coast is likely to result in a significant amount of oil being left in our marine environment.

Most of the booms used to respond to spills along the tanker route are meant for protected water areas, such as harbours. They aren’t built to withstand the currents we find along the route, with 87 per cent of them failing at about 1.5 knots (2.8 km/h). Even the most effective high-current booms on our coast fail at four knots. Meanwhile, in some locations, such as Race Rocks on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, currents can exceed seven knots.
Strong wind and waves carry oil over or under booms, sometimes even breaking them. In the heaviest weather, booms can’t be deployed. Wind and waves surpass boom capabilities for days, sometimes weeks, at a time during the fall and winter at the mouth of the Juan de Fuca Strait. If an oil spill were to happen during one of these periods, our coast would likely be awash in oil.
When the tug Nathan E. Stewart sank in Heiltsuk Nation territory in the northern part of the province in 2016, weather conditions suspended spill cleanup for 11 of 40 days of recovery efforts recovered 1,400 litres of oily water and waste, leaving 110,000 litres of fuel and lubricant in the surrounding waters. The spill contaminated shellfish harvesting areas, forcing the Heiltsuk to halt food and commercial harvests, as well as cultural practices.
Unfortunately, this level of failure is common. The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation estimates that 10 to 15 per cent of spilled oil is recovered, with the weather limits of spill equipment being a major factor. Spills are complex and difficult to manage — and their repercussions last for decades. We’re 30 years on from the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, which saw the loss of thousands of local jobs and the functional extinction of a pod of orcas, and oil is still being found on beaches in Prince William Sound.
An outcome such as this isn’t one that the people who live and work in the Salish Sea area should have to navigate. The federal government can say no to the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline and protect our coast from the risk of a future spill.
The government’s rationale for the pipeline expansion is unravelling: The NEB acknowledges there would be devastating impacts to southern resident orcas; Alberta’s carbon tax and oil-production cap are on the chopping block with the election of Premier Jason Kenney; and oil-spill response is nowhere near being “world-class.” The NEB recommends reviewing nearly every aspect of how we respond to spills — from response resources to the methods we use for spill response to including Indigenous and municipal governments in planning.
The federal government continues to claim that this project is in the national interest, while evidence and research suggest otherwise. The economic case for fossil fuels is unravelling, as the benefits of government revenues and jobs decline, while the impacts of their production on climate change and the natural world continues to climb.
It is time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to acknowledge that the government’s case for Trans Mountain is crumbling and move on from this project that puts our coast at risk.

Christianne Wilhelmson is the executive director of Georgia Strait Alliance, a regional marine conservation organization and intervener in the National Energy Board process.