Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents

The Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents Marine Protected Area (MPA) lies in water 2,250 metres deep, 250 kilometres southwest of Vancouver Island. As part of the Juan de Fuca Ridge system, the Endeavour Segment is an active seafloor-spreading zone where tectonic plates diverge and new oceanic crust is extruded onto the seafloor. In these zones, cold sea water percolates downward through the crust where it is heated by the underlying molten lava, eventually emerging through the seafloor as buoyant plumes of particle-rich, superheated fluid. The five known vent fields on the Endeavour Segment are separated along the ridge from one another by about two kilometres. Their associated plumes rise rapidly about 300 metres into the overlying water column.

Hydrothermal vents in the Endeavour area consist of large hot black smokers, chimney-like structures and surrounding lower temperature sites. The fields span a wide range of hydrothermal venting conditions characterized by different water temperatures and salt content, sulphide structure morphologies, and animal abundance. Temperatures associated with black smokers are typically in excess of 300°Celsius. Formation of the large polymetallic sulphide chimneys takes place when dissolved minerals and metallic ions carried upward by the smokers precipitate upon contact with the cold sea water. Cooler waters below 115° Celsius on the seafloor and along the flanks of the chimneys support an abundance of flora and fauna. This rich ecosystem is supported by microbes whose life processes are fueled by the chemical energy from the emerging fluids in the hydrothermal vents.

Hydrothermal venting systems host one of the highest levels of microbial diversity and animal abundance on earth. The deep ocean near the Endeavour area normally only supports sparse animal abundance of about twenty worms and brittlestars per square metre. In the diffuse vent flows around the sulphide structures, these abundances can range up to half a million animals per square metre. There is an amazing abundance of life in concentrated areas around the vents surrounded by a veritable desert in the deep oceans.

Globally, hydrothermal venting systems foster numerous unique species of animals. There are some 60 distinct species native to the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Many of these species are the first in the world to be identified. Hydrothermal vents at Endeavour are home to 12 species that do not exist anywhere else in the world.

Since its discovery in 1982, the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents have been a focus of research by Canadian and international scientists. The manned US submersible Alvin and the unmanned vehicle Jason have undertaken a number of missions in the area. Joint Canada-US studies have made use of the Canadian ROPOS (Remotely Operated Platform for Ocean Sciences). Fisheries and Oceans Canada has conducted extensive acoustic and moored instrument programs in the area since 1985.

The Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents Marine Protected Area has been designated to ensure the protection of these hydrothermal vents, and the unique ecosystems associated with them. The Regulation to establish the Marine Protected Area prohibits the removal, disturbance, damage or destruction of the venting structures or the marine organisms associated with them. The Regulation allows for scientific research that will contribute to the understanding of the hydrothermal vents ecosystem.

BC Rockfish

An interesting article by Doug Pemberton - Diver Magazine

The coast of British Columbia is renowned for it's incredible diversity of colourful, rare, and bizarre marine life. And if there was one animal that has become a symbol for diving in these waters, it would have to be the rockfish. With some thirty species inhabiting the northern Pacific they account for more species than any other genus of fishes. Over a dozen species can be encountered by recreational divers while the rest are found in depths down to 2000 metres.

Their variety in size and colour covers a great range. Some advertise their presence through bright colours and vivid patterns, while others strive to be less conspicuous through indistinct colouration. Maximum sizes vary from under 20 centimetres up to nearly a metre and they can weigh from less than half a kilo to over ten kilos.

Unlike most fish, rockfish do not lay eggs; they give birth to live young, usually in the spring and early summer, but some species also give birth during the winter. Depending on the species, and size and age of the female, anywhere from 10,000 to over a million young may be released. The tiny larvae become part of the plankton soup at the surface where many are consumed by larger animals. After a few weeks, survivors slowly make their way into the depths where, depending on the species, they may adopt a solitary lifestyle or live in large schools with other species.

Rockfish are very long lived with some living in excess of 100 years, and some species may not become sexually mature until they are ten or twenty years old.

Unfortunately, some species reach a harvestable size before reaching sexual maturity. Most rockfish also have a small and limited home range in which they spend their whole lives. This combined with the fact that they are relatively easy to catch makes them easy targets. And, unlike many other marine fish, an undersized or unwanted rockfish can rarely be released after capture because its gas bladder expands so rapidly during ascent due to the changes in pressure that, by the time it reaches the surface, a rockfish is so severely bloated that it is unable to swim, if not already dead . And therein lies the problem. Stocks have steadily been declining, putting the status of BC's rockfish in peril.

Over the past decades I, like many divers, have seen a slow and steady decline in many rockfish populations. Black rockfish were so numerous at some sites that they were a nuisance, always getting in the way when I was trying to get a picture of something else. Now, at those same sites, I have logged sightings of four black rockfish over the past five years. At some places schools of yellowtail rockfish were so thick you couldn't see through them. Today you have to look hard just to find a few. And these now include some of our previously most common and well known species such as the quillback, copper, tiger, china, and yelloweye rockfish. The decline can be attributed to one main cause: commercial and recreational over fishing. And now fisheries are targeting some deep water species that we know next to nothing about.

But there are things that are being done and things that are helping. One thing I have noticed while diving some of BC's artificial reefs is healthy populations of juvenile rockfish. On one wreck, vividly striped juvenile yelloweye rockfish are almost a common sighting. These ships are definitely a benefit when it comes to providing a safe habitat for young rockfish and many other species as well.

In an effort to protect the dwindling stocks, Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has now established Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs) throughout the Strait of Georgia and inshore waters between northern Vancouver Island and the mainland. These RCAs are subject to change as the need arises.

Education is an important part of protecting any species and in order to inform boaters, fishermen and divers to the plight of rockfish, DFO has published a free pamphlet and booklet that explains the need for these measures, provides interesting information on the various species under protection and includes detailed maps and co-ordinates of the RCAs. Realization of the problem and an understanding that measures must be taken is an important first step.

The problems facing the BC rockfish are not unique. Unfortunately fish stocks are on the decline around the world and the measures instituted by DFO are expected to be in place for a number of years.

The decline of any species should act as a reminder of our profound effect on the fine balances that exist in nature. Hopefully, and through action and education, the rockfish of BC will continue as the symbol of the fantastic variety that makes up the BC marine environment.

Source: Doug Pemberton. Diver Magazine

Delivering houses from San Ignacio to Placencia

When we began building our houses in Belize, I designed them as a box with a top basically. A 24 foot by 24 foot square box which was to be delivered to the property on the back of a flatbed truck and hauled through the Maya Mountains across bridges that were no more than eighteen feet wide.

On some bridges, our houses hung over the sides of the bridges above a rushing river below as they were delivered to our property for installation.

Belizean pre-fabricated housing.

They were delivered a day before I arrived in Belize to supervise the placement and construction of the houses for two weeks.

Allen Reimer had decided he didn’t have time to wait until I arrived a day later and placed one of the house at the front of the property very near to the ocean and at a sharp angle and I decided I did not like it there and asked him to move it.

So, we placed the end of a flatbed truck under it, tilted the house up with a forklift and backed up until the house rested on the flatbed and we let the house down and drove it to where I wanted it. We then placed the pilings at the four corners of the house, lifted it up off the flatbed using the same forklift and drove the truck away gently, as we only had one forklift and the house needed to be left balanced on the four pilings.

No Steve we are no longer in Kansas.

This really only took the better part of a morning and after lunch, I was ready to tackle our house. The biggest problem with that was I also really wanted to keep a couple of 20 foot Palm Trees, which were located only a few feet from where I wanted the front of the house to be.

It’s not that easy to manouver a house on the back of a flatbed and the placement of the second house took the rest of the day to get into place but by the end of the first day, we had both houses in place and ready to begin adding footings to.

The next morning it began to rain. It rained all day and all night and the crew worked putting in the pilings and leveling the houses with the forklift and by the end of the second day, although the property was covered in water, we had both houses perfectly level on their pilings.

By the third day, we had to pour the cement for the foundation but had so much water on the property we had to dig a trench the entire length of the property at an angle so we could drain the water away from the houses. I was having a blast by now. I was absolutely soaked and dirtier than I had been for twenty years and loving the hell out of it.

These were my houses at the Ocean’s Edge.

Over the coming week or so, we set about cementing in the foundations such as they were, clearing the property, and beginning the decks around the houses. By the time I left to go back to Canada to get Yim, the houses had roofs completed and doors on them, which could be locked.

I was thrilled.

Two weeks later I came back with Yim and we drove to the property to give her a first glimpse at her house on the beach and I think it was one of the most exciting days of my life. We had done it.

We had a house on the Ocean’s Edge.