Photos & Words by Katie L.
Our cohort group began the day at Oak Bay Marina. A woman showed us a machine currently installed in the marina. Its job is to filter garbage out of the water, and it can even clean up micro-plastics and oil! We learned a lot and found it quite interesting regarding the future actions that should be taken to protect our oceans.
Afterward, our group met King, who was going to be touring us around for the day. All of us got settled on the boat, and then we set out. Firstly, King showed us his crab-traps and put them in the water. With the crab traps done, we sped off and away from the marina, excited to catch some fish. We ended up catching quite a few in our first fishing spot, but most had to be tossed back because either it wasn’t the right season to catch them, or they were too small. Unfortunately, the waters were pretty choppy, so some members of our group weren’t feeling too well. With a couple of fish in the boat, we drove towards a more sheltered spot, where the waves were less big. Thankfully, our group members started feeling better soon after.
It was in this second spot where we caught some of our bigger salmon, which was an entertaining and amusing ordeal, as everyone took a turn reeling in a fish. We kept four of the salmon we caught, as that was as much as we were allowed, but we had quite a few crabs to keep when we checked the trap on our way back. We docked at the marina and watched as King guided us through gutting and cleaning the fish.
Even though it concluded the day with our cohort group, a couple of us stuck around to eat a meal that night cooked with the salmon and the crabs we caught that day. (A big thank you to those who prepared the meal!) Overall, it was a fantastic day and on behalf of the group, we’re looking forward to our 3rd cohort expedition day.