Ucluelet Aquarium Society

Happy New Year Aquarium lovers!

We are excited to get back to our JCP (Job Creation Program) Harbour Clean up project for 2011!

Despite the colder temperatures in the early mornings we have continued up the frozen harbour. To date we have removed garbage from 2/3 of the intertidal zone and shore line (25 fish totes worth) and we will be continuing our way north into the Millstream area. We can already see our positive affects on the harbour as we occasionally pass over areas that we have already cleaned on our way to new spots.

Of the items we have found, commercial batteries are the most concerning. We have found batteries on all the abandon boats in the Ukee harbour. So far we have found 13 large commercial batteries and many household batteries. These batteries leach cadmium, lead , mercury, copper, zinc, magnese, lithium and potassium which are all hazardous to the environment and human health. Many of these toxins do not break down in the environment and can accumulate in all animals particularly in fish and shell fish. Removing these toxic batteries will improve the health and future generations of the marine life in the Ucluelet harbour.

Most service stations will take and recycle your batteries free of charge! Petro-Canada and Noel Enterprises in Ucluelet will accept all batteries as well as Method Marine in Tofino. We hope that our days of throwing batteries in the ocean are behind us.

We would like to thank The Westerly newspaper for publishing a two page spread on the work we have been doing in the Harbour.(December 16th 2010 newspaper)The Harbour clean up also got a thumbs up in the Times Colonist(Victoria newspaper) for our good work.