The Salmon have come..... and gone

Four weeks ago, the fish were just starting the annual spawning run into the Goldstream River, near Victoria, in British Columbia. There had been concerns about a fuel spill into the river during the summer; some small absorbing booms were stretched across the surface for several months. The 2010 run was also much smaller than expected, so what could one anticipate for this year.

During the last month, several thousand fish have made their way upstream. They have joined into mating pairs, dug out their small trench in the gravel, and have laid their eggs and fertilized with milt... but then comes the ultimate price! The skin of the fish begins to discolour, the flesh becomes inedible, to humans that is, and the fish slowly die.

Some are washed downstream to be eaten by the waiting bald eagles, but many wash up on the river bank to be eaten by seagulls. At night and early morning, mink and bear arrive at the river to feed but the human presence during daylight hours tend to keep these animals hidden in the underbrush
This small river is just one of many on the coast and fortunately it is in a dedicated wilderness park. Its proximity to a city attracts thousands of visitors during the fall season but with park rangers working on river bank protection and other environmental issues, the wilderness nature of the river has been successfully maintained.

Rhino poaching in South Africa

The poaching of both White and Black Rhinocerous (Ceratotherium simum and Diceros bicornis) which are critically endangered in South Africa is rampant and to draw the attention of the South African government to the plight of the rhino the various groups trying to protect the rhino have taken the unusual step of defacing bank notes. The defacing of bank notes in any way is illegal but the eco-activists are using red pens to mark the horns of the rhino on the ten rand note. It is hoped that citizens will also become aware of what is happening and that the government will also take the matter more seriously. A total of 361 Rhinos have already been killed this year!

PLASTIC WINE BOTTLES

My first realization that adults also suffer severe emotional stress and trauma came when I was about 7 years old. The incident is still vivid in my mind. A man came out of a bottle store in Stellenbosch and dropped his bottle of wine onto the dusty sidewalk and all that was left were a few shards of glass and a vinegary smell in the air. He sat down on the sidewalk and cried.

Last time I went into a bottle store (what a euphemism!) I bought a random bottle of wine and just took it home. When we opened it we discovered the bottle was made of plastic. Reading the label revealed that the plastic was re-cycled and supposedly of great benefit to the environment. To be honest I don’t know if this is good or bad and I don’t know how to prove whether it is more environmentally friendly than glass.

I decided to photograph the bottle for my green photo agency. Drinking the wine and driving a knife through the bottle was ok (although I realise I must hide the knives when I drink) but creating a good image with the wine in me was not that easy. I decided to empty a fresh bottle and use it the next day to do the photography. The bottle stayed in the kitchen for a couple of weeks with a knife stuck into it. How do you show a bottle is made of plastic? I never got past the knife in bottle idea.

I was not inspired when it came to the picture either and stuck with the clichéd sundowner idea. As I was unsure of what I was trying to illustrate the picture is rather stark too.

Wine fanciers need not worry as the wine was quite palatable. I really don’t know of the aging potential of the red as the bottles never really survive for any length of time around me. Maybe if you are clumsy, going hiking or get violent when you drink the plastic bottle is lighter and will cause less damage.

When I go to the beach I find hundreds of plastic bottles along the high tide mark. If I look on the rocks or beach I will find shards of glass and a few unbroken bottles. Maybe I would rather step onto a plastic wine bottle than some glass. Some glass bottles and some plastics are re-cycled. Perhaps I should just admit that I don’t know whether plastic bottles are good or perhaps better than glass. Maybe we should just improve our re-cycling and ensure that both the plastic and glass bottles end up in the correct re-cycling bin.

Beach Clean up Spitsbergen

These tourists in Spitsbergen are cleaning up the beaches after having walked around the area. A helicopter comes along on a regular basis to pick up the nets, plastic etc.  Wouldn't it be great if this happened globally in the cruising industry? 

Salmon run on the Canadian West Coast

It's the fall season here on the Canadian West Coast; time to look forward to the salmon run in the local Goldstream River. The forest here is predominantly coniferous, Douglas Fir, Hemlock, and Western Red Cedar, but there are a few stands of Maple trees among the overall carpet of green. The leaves of the Maples are falling, adding colour to the banks of the river.

This may evoke visions of peace, calm, and beauty but there are other additions to the river never seen before... These are the small white oil and solvent booms stretched across the surface of the water; the result of a fuel tanker accident on the road immediately alongside the river some months ago. The initial spill was a disaster, pouring thousands of litres of fuel into the water, but hope is alive the salmon run will not be affected.

The main spawning run will peak in a few weeks but the initial arrivals are few and far between. When I visited the river a week ago I saw only a few salmon making their way upstream. Speaking to a conservation officer confirmed the fact; only fifty fish had been counted so far, and this follows a very disappointing fish count from 2010 when only twenty-five percent of the expected spawning run actually arrived at the river.

Meanwhile, we shall remain hopeful. The bald eagles and the seagulls are gathering in the estuary waiting for the decaying carcases of the salmon to be washed downstream after spawning. Many of the dead fish become washed up on the gravel bars and are pecked clean to the skeleton by crows and other scavengers. A big salmon run is good for the whole wildlife community..... More details in a month's time.

Tasmanian Devils - the cull's not working

Many readers of this blog may have enjoyed the BBC's Miracle Babies presented by Martin Hughes-Games. He was filmed visiting captive breeding programmes of some of the world's most endangered species. One was a visit to Tasmanian to find out more about the Tasmanian Devil. Numbers of this marsupial have declined for the usual reasons - habitat loss, hunting and predation by the introduced red fox. In 1996 a new threat emerged - devil facial tumour disease, a highly contagious cancer that causes growths around the mouth that interfere with feeding. In 2004 a trial cull was started. Martin visited the trial site where devils are trapped and examined for presence of tumours, and any found with the disease are culled. The theory was that the removal of the diseased individuals would reduce the risk to the others. It was tough for Martin as they found an infected female with young in her pouch. The disease was so advanced that they could not keep her alive long enough for  her babies to grow large enough to be fostered, so she was put down.


New research reported in the Journal of Applied Ecology  has found that that the cull is not stopping the spread of the disease. Although animals were being trapped, a computer model designed to assess the cull found that approximately  one-fifth of the population  would never be trapped so there was a potential reservoir of diseased animals remaining in the population. The cull has now been stopped and research is looking for other ways of saving the devils. This includes the establishment of captive breeding groups and the introduction of healthy individuals into new areas. However, the best hope for the wild devils is a vaccine.

THE PRICE OF POACHING

The little village of Schoenmakerskop where I live lies along the Indian Ocean and the shores were blessed with a large population of Abalone (Haliotis midae). The Abalone can be dived fairly easily and taste good when prepared properly. When prepared badly they have all the characteristics of a car tyre - hard, rubbery and difficult to chew.

Unfortunately the mysterious East decided that the poor Abalone had miraculous aphrodisiacal properties and the Abalone poachers moved in. I no longer dive for Abalone because the population has been reduced by poachers to the extent that they are rapidly becoming endangered. The poaching has become big business and the poachers are polite but get very aggressive if you threaten their activities and the threats go from swearing to threats to your dogs, family, house and person.

Yesterday when I returned home the village was full of police and a police helicopter was parked at the end of the road. I walked a short distance along a coastal trail and came across a sad scene. The body of a young alleged poacher was lying on the rocks and in the vicinity were vehicles belonging to the police, coastal rescue services, nature conservation and a van from the mortuary services. It appears that 6 poachers entered the water at sunrise, three decided the sea was too rough and returned to shore. The others carried out their dive but one drowned. The sea whipped up by a strong wind was unsuitable for diving.

While I was waiting for the helicopter to lift the body the wife of the alleged poacher arrived. I was proud of the police who prevented her from clambering over the rocks and a police woman comforted the poor woman along the shore. This was a painful moment.

The rewards for poaching and the poachers are high if things go well but the price is even higher for the poacher when things go wrong.

Polar Bear Safety Lecture

When I took this picture in Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Salbard Archipelago I was standing on a carpet of fine gravel with the cold wind trying to pick out the wrinkles in my face. At the same time I was desperately trying to listen to one of the expedition team telling us what to do if we encounter a Polar Bear. I couldn’t help thinking there was one behind every rock and at the same time they must have been hungry because nothing, absolutely nothing is growing here.

The rather unconventional health and safety lecture is a rite of passage for all visitors who come to Spitsbergen and you are constantly reminded wherever you travel here that we humans are merely guests in this the kingdom of the world’s largest land carnivore.

I’m pleased to say that in many ways the bears’ lives are put before ours as there are series of strategies from shouting to large “flash/bang” flares designed to frighten the bear off, the high powered rifles carried by the guides would  only be used as a last resort.

It's a fact of life that as 'soft'  Polar expedition cruising increases the wildlife will come under more pressure but this seems to be kept to an absolute minimum as all cruise operators have to sign up to Antarctic and Arctic codes of practice. Visits here are a wondereful thing as it brings home to people the need to protect these stunning areas.

The good thing about Polar cruising is that the season is so short and numbers limited as to how many people can be where, also the winter gives the land a chance to carry on with its natural rhythms.

   

POVERTY AND MAKING AN EFFORT

Coming home I saw the wheels of this wood cutter’s home made cart. They are held together by wire and seem to have originated from some Victorian contraption. Some poor people turn to crime or wait for hand outs while others like this guy make an effort to earn money.

The wood he cuts is either cut up to make fires to cook food or warm people and some of the straight bits would be used to build and reinforce shacks. I suppose if the cart was being pulled by an animal someone would have complained to the animal rights people. Human rights and human dignity are sometimes just overlooked. South Africa is a sometimes shocking mix of first and third world (and probably second and fourth world too).