Over the past few days we have been keeping an eye on eco-tourism vessels, and have been documenting their presence and their proximity to wildlife. The somewhat isolated nature of Race Rocks, minimal to no presence of regulating authority, and many other factors lead to a high risk of animals and the delicate marine environment being disturbed and potentially exploited.

While the distance of a vessel from wildlife is important, another considerable disturbance may be vibration and noise. Eco-tourism vessels fighting against the current to get the best viewing angle of resting animals easily vibrates a glass of water in our concrete foundation dwelling, over 100m from the waters edge. Another factor to consider is the volume of traffic. Items shaking in our home is normal, and we often hear boats coming before we see them. Perhaps a handful of boats conducting themselves responsibly would not be a problem, but on some days we see approximately 35+ eco-tourism boats alone. This does not include private vessels.

The below video is from July 31st, 2019 at 1413hr. It shows two zodiacs coming close to a pod of orcas within the reserve. The orcas were visible for over 15 minutes before this video was taken, and conversation on VHF channel 68 and 79 indicated that all boats in the area knew of their presence. Based on what we observed, it seemed as though the boats did not accidentally drift into place. Visible in the background is North Rock, video taken from the jetty.

We were unable to previously post it due to its size, but discovered uploading to YouTube and embedding to be a great solution.

As mentioned in the last blog post, the hauled out sea lions continue to provide an opportunity to observe how closely boats approach the wildlife. Here are three more videos of boats approaching the resting sea lions, all filmed within the last few days:

Additionally, here are some photos of miscellaneous vessels taken within the last 5 days or so:

This boat is interesting, it comes through often (see matching hull numbers) with different passengers but the same operator.

Another interesting boat coming in close for a look:

Weather: 

• Sky clear
• Visibility 15+ miles
• Wind 10 knots W
• Water flat to rippled

Boats/Visitors: 

• No visitors over the last few days.

Ecological: 

On the day the roofers were here a pod of orcas came through the reserve and I misplaced this photo, here it is now.

• Census as follows:
• 250 sea lions
• 200-300 seagulls
• 6 Canadian geese
• Ruddy Turnstones and migrating birds come and go frequently