Race Rocks Marine Protected Area
Race Rocks is an Ecological Reserve designated by the British Columbia Parks Ministry in the eastern entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the Salish Sea, Canada. The reserve is also a designated Marine Protected Area and has been such since the first bid in 2000 was derailed by DFO in Ottawa. Started in 1978 as a marine science project by the students of Pearson College UWC under the supervision and guidance of their teachers, Garry Fletcher and Marks McAvity, in 1980 it became ecological reserve #97 under Provincial B.C. Parks protection. In 1998 it became a Canadian Marine Protected Area designate. It is managed by the staff and students at the college, and is available as a resource for research and education.
Located at a narrow part of the Strait, the area covers of ocean, rocks, and reefs, but does not include the small envelope of land with the foghorn and the historic Race Rocks Lighthouse itself. That area is leased by the Canadian Coast Guard.
Because of the location in a high tidal current area, there is an exceptional variety of marine life to be found, including marine mammals, sea birds, fish, marine invertebrates, and marine algae and sea grass. It is a haulout area for California and Northern sealions and a birthing rookery for Harbour seals and it is also the most northerly birthing colony on the Pacific Coast of North America for the elephant seal,Mirounga-angustirostris.
In 2006 and 2007, the Race Rocks Tidal Power Demonstration Project was installed. After a six-year period for experimental research, the tidal energy generator was removed.
