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Posted by John Blatchford May 28, 2008 |
While staying with friends in Nanaimo I was lucky enough to visit the Pacific Biological Station. This is where most of the marine research for the Canada’s Pacific Ocean is carried out. The station was established in 1908, so there was due to be ‘open house’ from 23-27 April 2008. Although I had to leave the island a couple of days before, I managed a ‘sneak preview’.
Schools Programme
In addition to academic research the Biological Station maintains a few tanks of the more robust sea creatures that volunteers take out regularly to local schools. I took part in one of these visits, and was very impressed to see the way the (young in this case) students reacted. They were obviously fascinated by the animals and understood that they should be handled with care. (Fortunately they did not realise that animals captured from a variety of places should never be released back into the wild – there is too great a risk of them carrying one or more of the diseases or parasites that have been unwittingly introduced to a number of locations in the past – usually ‘hitching a ride’ on deliberately transplanted shellfish.)
Collections of Whale Identification Photos
Among many other areas of research the PBS has collections of photographs of the fins of ‘resident’ Killer Whales in the area, allowing individuals to be identified. Those who go whale watching out of Victoria and take photos will find this very interesting.