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Noisy sealife moves off Oak Bay shores, but hope for healthy herring return remains

Pacific herring spawn off Esquimalt Lagoon last March heralded as the first in a decade
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Jacques Sirois, a volunteer warden at the Trial Islands Ecological Preserve, calls the resident Steller sea lion the Trial Islands Big Boss and dubs the smaller California sea lions the synchronized swim team. The group hung out for about a month on Trial Islands before moving on at the end of February. (Photo by Jacques Sirois)

Those living in earshot of Trial Islands rapidly became accustomed to a 3 a.m. wake-up call of the natural kind as sea lions and seals rattled the cages of residents this winter.

The raucous sealife stopped on the Oak Bay shoreline and set up house starting in December, moving along by the end of February.

After nearly three months, the gang moved on, but Jacques Sirois, a volunteer warden at the Trial Islands Ecological Preserve, hopes it’s a harbinger of another healthy herring spawn on the way.

RELATED: Pacific herring spawn spectacle surfaces along West Coast

The Oak Bay man lives not far from the shore, and happily heard the cacophony for three months.

It’s not so much that he loves to see such a huge number, and knows full well folks love to hate the noisy beasts, but it may mean more from an environmental aspect.

“It signals that something may be happening with the herring,” Sirois said. “It looks like the planets are in line for another spawning event in March 2023. In the last year, we’ve seen all kinds of things that suggest there is a bit more herring.”

The Pacific herring spawn, that bloomed milky white waters near Fisgard Lighthouse and Esquimalt Lagoon last spring, was the first in a decade.

Sirois points to myriad species of birds alighting across the region this fall as another potential indication of a healthy herring population. Then there’s the rebounding humpback whale population.

A jump in documented humpback whales in the waters off B.C. in 2022 marked what’s being called a “humpback comeback” by those in the businesses of preservation.

READ ALSO: More whales spotted in Salish Sea this year than any other

Nearly 400 humpbacks were documented in the Salish Sea – 396 individuals – among them 34 mothers and their first-year calves.

“We see things happening out there that suggest there’s a fair amount of herring out there at this point, no where near where it used to be 100 years ago, but … sea lions is one of those signs,” he said.

While that party may have moved north, Sirois hopes to see them return bringing milky clouds to the Salish Sea this month.

Falling in the Lekwungen Traditional Territory, known today as the Esquimalt and Songhees nations, points to a historically high population as Lekwungen translates to “place to smoke herring.”

READ ALSO: Songhees, Oak Bay embark on shared knowledge project for popular beach

christine.vanreeuwyk@blackpress.ca  


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christine.vanreeuwyk@blackpress.ca

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Christine van Reeuwyk

About the Author: Christine van Reeuwyk

I'm dedicated to serving the community of Oak Bay as a senior journalist with the Greater Victoria news team.
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