Media Highlights -
May 2002 Edition

WELCOME to the fourth edition of Wavelengths, a compendium of recent media stories about Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Across the country, we look beyond the headlines of the day to bring you some of the success stories written about the department. 

Enjoy Wavelengths and as always, we welcome your opinions, feedback and story suggestions. Contact our editor at dundassh@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Little Orphan Orcas

twice-in-a-lifetime occurrence in the waters of Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington, brought DFO’s scientific expertise to the fore and drew enormous worldwide media attention.

Not one, but two juvenile killer whales were found swimming alone, rejected or separated from their families, or ‘pods’. In late January, a young female was spotted in Puget Sound off a Seattle suburb, while a young male orca was spotted on the north coast of Vancouver Island.

DFO’s marine biologist, John Ford, sharpened his media skills and was interviewed by reporters up and down the coast and on national airwaves in Canada and the United States. Joint US-Canada task forces were established as scientists studied the animals, monitored their health and tried to find a solution. The Americans led the group looking at the female found in Washington, and DFO led the group monitoring the male orca found off Vancouver Island.

"There’s a lot of debate about what’s best in this situation, what’s best for the whale." John Ford told reporter Kelly Crowe in a CBC National TV report on March 20. "Human intervention is likely the only way to save A73 (the female in American waters)," he said in the Globe and Mail on March 11.

Scientists such as John Ford, who has tracked and studied killer whale families for 30 years were able to identify the baby whales and tie them to their pods through body markings and their unique dialect, a series of underwater calls particular to each pod.

The idea of young, lonely, possibly starving orcas – ‘podless in Seattle’– stirred debate among scientists, conservationists and the general public. Some of the ideas discussed in media reports included a floating pen where A73, also known as Springer, could be moved into a position where she might be able to rejoin her family as it returns to the area later this year.

For now, marine researchers plan to watch the whales and intervene only if necessary.

Above and Beyond

t’s late summer 1999. A man attached only by a sling rope to the bottom of a helicopter, swings precariously over the tree tops of the densely-wooded slopes of Glacier National Park in Montana, near the Alberta border. Suddenly he points to a narrow ledge on the side of a mountain. As dusk approaches with rapidly fading daylight, the pilot lowers the man onto the ledge and waits as he snatches a severely injured hiker from the rock outcrop and secures him in an airlift bag and directs the pilot to lift the patient to safety.

The hero was Peter Jowett, then a park warden, now the DFO detachment supervisor of the Conservation and Protection Branch in Prince Rupert, B.C. In March, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson awarded Mr. Jowett a Meritorious Service Decoration for ‘outstanding professionalism’.

After the ceremony, the Fishery Officer told media he credits the American park wardens and a daredevil helicopter pilot with the save.

Coast Guard’s Mid-Life Notoriety

his year marks the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) 40th birthday and every month we see additional coverage of this benchmark.

The March 2002 edition of WORKBOAT, an American publication about marine matters, features a cover story on the CCG and how it differs from its American counterpart. The article traces the Coast Guard’s history and the enormous job of patrolling Canada’s coastlines. It includes technical descriptions of the CCG vessels and their duties and a feature story on the Canadian Coast Guard College in Nova Scotia.

Canadian Sailings, a weekly trade publication out of Montreal, recently featured stories of the Coast Guard’s origins, and an interview with Commissioner John Adams about the challenges facing the CCG, including the thorny issue of cost recovery fees. Commissioner Adams told the publication he hopes to have an agreement with ship owners by September of this year.

Central and Arctic’s Regional Director for the CCG, Julian Goodyear, was featured in the Sarnia Observer when he spoke at a special service commemorating St. Paul’s Anglican Church. The church has served the Great Lakes maritime community since 1868 and Mr. Goodyear spoke of the link between the community and the Coast Guard, and its role in keeping the waterways safe and clean.

Pollution Patrol Plane Pilot Profiled

orking with our counterparts at Transport Canada, DFO Communications in the Maritimes arranged for a Global TV reporter to take a fly-along on a coastal surveillance flight. For Coast Guard Pilot Larry Denault it was all in a day’s work to patrol the coast off Nova Scotia, watching for vessels dumping oil or other pollutants.

The journalist climbed aboard the dash-8 aircraft to see what that job entails. The interview and the footage made for an interesting television item.

Green Crabs invade Green Gables

BC Television’s Land and Sea, hosted by Peter Varner did an extensive report on the pesky green crab and how this species has invaded Prince Edward Island over the past few years.  The European species originally arrived in Canada in ships’ bilge water and have marched up the Coast from Cape Cod, arriving in PEI in the mid-90’s.

The item, which aired in late March, featured graphic footage of the rather ugly menace and outlined how the green crab can eat its way through any shellfish it finds in its path. Eel fishermen are particularly hard-hit by the incursion, as the green crab prefers to live in eelgrass, and warm water.  Their nets and traps are full of the non-marketable species instead of lucrative eel.

Graduate students from two New Brunswick universities were shown gathering data and samples in PEI estuaries for study by DFO and the provincial governments. The report also profiled Mark Hanson, a DFO marine biologist, stationed in Moncton, and the work the department is doing to study the breeding habits of the green aliens and find solutions to control the incursion.

"If they knock that down (eel grass) then everything else that depends on them will decline as well…the animals that use (the grass) for cover will become more vulnerable to predators…and their populations will go down." Mark Hanson, DFO Marine Biologist, Land and Sea, CBC TV, 24 March 2002

The Ebb and Flow of an Inland Sea

scientist at Bedford Institute of Oceanography has solved the mystery of the rise and fall of the waters of Bras D’Or Lakes in Cape Breton. Brian Petrie, a BIO researcher has studied the tides and other sea level variations of this inland sea that is connected to the ocean by two narrow channels. His work was featured in an article in the March/April edition of Canadian Geographic.

Water levels within the Lakes have been very unpredictable due to a combination of factors including friction and barometric pressure. In fact, the predictable tidal levels in Sydney Bight, outside the Lakes are ten times higher than those of the middle of the Lakes. The unpredictable sea level variations caused by weather patterns move into the Lakes almost unchanged.

Clear as mud? Well don’t worry. The Canadian Hydrographic Service will use the research data to publish updated tidal charts for mariners.

Newfoundland leads the way

he first ever national study of the use of personal floatation devices (PFD’s) has brought good news and bad news. Only one in five Canadian recreational boaters wear a life jacket. But three times that number wear a PFD in Newfoundland.

The Telegram, in St. John’s, did a feature on the survey findings, reporting that about eight million boaters enjoy Canada’s waterways in 2.7 million vessels every year. Smaller, faster boats have brought an increase in tragic accidents with younger victims and an increased incidence of alcohol consumption.

In 2000, the national study of PFD use began. Observers on Canadian waterways made notes about more than 4,800 people in more than 1,700 boats. The results were encouraging only in Newfoundland where the safety message seems to have caught on.

The next phase will be a survey to find out why people do or do not wear PFD’s. Those results are expected soon.