Plumper Sound (photo:Richard Fox)
From the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre in Sidney, B.C.
What’s going on?
A new 24 meter (78′) high-speed catamaran, foil assisted, passenger ferry has been built for service on the Seattle – Bremerton run in Puget Sound by the Kitsap Transit authority. http://www.pugetsoundfastferry.com/
Earlier efforts to introduce such a service with a different ferry were thwarted by a law suit that awarded damages to property owners on the ferry route (in Rich Passage) where the ferry wake caused shoreline damage.
Before the new ferry can be placed in service in the US, vessel performance tests must be conducted to verify simulation test results and fine tune the vessel control systems with a particular focus in the wake output of the vessel.
Golder and Associates (Victoria office) is a consultant to the project and they have recommended Plumper Sound between Saturna and the Pender Islands as the ideal location for the 1.5 nautical mile test site.
What do the tests involve?
The tests are planned to begin on May 25, 2010 and run over a period of 30 days.
The vessel will be tested at speeds up to 40 knots (74 km/hr) with a variety of loads and control settings.
Because of the variability needed in the test specifications at least 390 test runs are planned over the 30 day period.
Additional runs will be required if a test run is aborted due to vessel traffic, wake interference from other boats, wildlife interactions or test equipment failure.
Four monitoring equipment stations will be anchored to the seafloor in various positions along the 1.5 nautical mile length of the test track.
Each of the units emits four high frequency underwater acoustic signals to measure wave action as the test vessel passes by at various speeds. No information on the possible impact of these sounds on marine life is provided.
It is predicted that the vessel will emit sound in the range of 70 dBA at 1,000 feet on the surface.
No information has been provided regarding the underwater acoustic output of the vessel at test speeds.
The full media release from the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre can be downloaded here: waketests.pdf
Full details of the Golder proposal as presented to the Islands Trust can be viewed at: http://bit.ly/cpvpTs
May 31, 2010 letter to Golder Associates can be viewed here: 31-may-10letter.pdf
For more information about our local waters and marine wildlife visit the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre: http://www.oceandiscovery.ca/ located in Sidney, B.C.
The media release from the Shaw Discovery Centre makes good sense, suggesting Nanoose Bay as an alternative. I don’t appreciate how the Canadian consultants from Victoria could agree to gloss over the potential impact to our endangered resident orcas. The tests should be done along the actual route in the US, although the consultants were probably under pressure by the client to find a solution to the timing dilemma presented by US regulations, and were also probably afraid of lawsuits in the US by shoreline residents. I wouldn’t be surprised if the first draft of the proposal contained more mention of the potential damages to orcas and the client forced them to remove it, but one never knows. Here’s hoping the Island’s Trust acts in the best interest of our beloved orcas and other species. And thanks Jocko for using the color version of my photo of Plumper Sound (Book’s p145, Hike #19). That’s my nephew enjoying the sublime vista and he would be appalled by the proposed project.
Comment by Richard Fox — April 28, 2010 @ 10:06 am