Tag Archives: Vancouver

Vancouver MP Joyce Murray won’t seek re-election

Vancouver Quadra MP Joyce Murray has announced she will not run again in the next federal election. Murray is currently serving as the federal minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard. She announced her decision to not seek re-election on Twitter Tuesday. She says the decision came “after much thought and reflection,” adding this term will be her last. “My work in politics and time serving my community both federally and provincially as an elected official has been the honour of my life,” she said. >click to read< 14:42

‘Potentially lethal’: Crown wants $2.95M in fines for Richmond ammonia release

A Richmond-based fishing company should pay $2.95 million in fines related to the handling and discharge of ammonia in 2017, a Vancouver provincial court judge heard March 29. Judge Ellen Gordon heard the ammonia was taken from the Viking Enterprise trawler, stored on the Reagle wharf and then transported to the company operations near Jacombs Road and Cambie Road. “This was a horrific incident, a very dangerous incident,” Gordon said. Multiple individual and corporate defendants pleaded guilty to three counts from an indictment of 10 that involved the transportation, storage and then venting of the potentially lethal substance into the air or runoff into a storm drain to a nearby slough. >click to read< 08:05

Man whose boat was seized for illegal crab fishing in Burrard Inlet nets further $6,000 fine

Judge Lyndsay Smith handed the fine to Sammy Alvin-Raymond John Williams, 32, of Gold River, B.C., July 13, in North Vancouver provincial court. Smith found Williams guilty in November of several fishing offences including setting gear in Burrard Inlet during a closed time, fishing for Dungeness crab in waters during a closed time, fishing without a licence, and possessing crab in contravention of the Federal Fisheries Act. Fisheries officers netted three men on fisheries charges following a high-speed chase of a fishing boat in Burrard Inlet on the night of March 1, 2020. The trio on board the boat had been fishing at night in the inlet, with no navigation lights on, using unmarked crab traps attached to a line that they pulled up from the bottom of the harbour, including fishing in the path of the SeaBus, a Crown prosecutor said. >click to read< 11:58

Repeat Offender: Gabriola Island fisheries violator jailed following late night boat chase

Scott Stanley Matthew Steer, 44, was sentenced last month in BC Supreme Court in Vancouver following his conviction on five charges earlier this year. Steer and two accomplices aboard a boat in Burrard Inlet were spotted by fisheries officers and perused in the early morning hours of March 2, 2020. The unlicensed Steer was arrested aboard the vessel containing 250 illegally caught live crabs captured out of season, Justice Peter Edelmann determined. Steer also breached two court orders by being on a fishing vessel and in possession of associated gear. >click to read< 09:43

Canadian Coast Guard knocks down Hardy Bay boat fire

The Canadian Coast Guard stopped a blaze from ravaging a small fishing boat in Hardy Bay. According to Brian Salisbury with Marine Search and Rescue, the call came in at 12:30 pm yesterday (Thursday), with Coast Guard crews able to knock the fire down and rescue passengers. Reports point to the small boat belonging to a bigger boat called The Blue Dragger, and in a Facebook post, Port Hardy Fire Rescue said the flames were “highly visible.” >click to read< 09:37

Soul Of A Workboat

“Welcome,” Rodger Morris says as he waves me aboard the Cape Ross. A professional woodworker, captain and marine surveyor, Morris has already lived a career as a shipwright, and another as a commercial fisherman in Southeastern Alaska. His demeanor is tranquil, and his vaguely wizardly mane of silver hair, along with his calm baritone voice, make him seem fit to read poetry on National Public Radio. He’s the kind of man I’d expect to find aboard this kind of boat. The Cape Ross was built in 1952 by Sterling Shipyards Ltd. of Vancouver, Canada, for the Canadian Fishing Company. All wood with a length overall of 67 feet, she spent most of her life chasing salmon and herring for profit along the British Columbia coast. >click to read< 10:33

Dead fin whale arrives in Vancouver on bow of cruise ship

 Department of Fisheries and Oceans officials are trying to figure out how a fin whale died and arrived in the city’s harbour Sunday on the bow of a cruise ship. The whale, spotted at the port near the Clarke Drive access point, has since been towed away so a necropsy can be performed. He said the ship operator immediately notified authorities after noticing the whale and crew members have been interviewed. The mammal was brought into to the port so a team of experts could examine it. Read the rest here 07:47

Vancouver’s Lost Salmon Streams Wriggle Back to Life

Max Adrien stands at the corner of St. George and Sixth in Vancouver, looking down the hill towards shipping cranes that peek out of the bay. “This should be declared a Vancouver heritage site,” he says. He’s standing on pavement that covers up one of Vancouver’s lost creeks. It used to carry spawning salmon from False Creek up to its headwaters at present-day Robson Park. Now, those headwaters are covered over by a playground,,,Read more here 10:36

Vancouver: Top story of ’13? Fish

For three days in late August, a series of unexpected visitors came calling on Squamish. The sight of commercial fishing vessels that dropped their nets near the mouth of the Squamish River was, in fact, so novel that more than one person phoned The Chief on Aug. 22 report an obvious breach of commercial fishing regulations. Read more@thechief  10:38

Bizarre mass die-off of starfish in the waters around Vancouver, British Columbia baffles experts

Jonathan Martin, a research associate at Simon Fraser University, has observed the mass die-off of both Sunflower seastars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) and morning sun stars (Solaster dawsoni) and has published photos and videos of the event on Flickr and YouTube. more@redorbit   09:25