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Ocean Networks Canada joins the excitement in Prince Rupert

Overview

*By Mercedes McLean (Indigenous community learning coordinator) and Jessica Brown (Indigenous community liaison)* The [All Native Basketball Tournament](http://anbt.ca/) is an event that is highly anticipated each February and transforms the regularly tranquil coastal city of Prince Rupert, British Columbia into a hustling, bustling gathering spot. This year was no exception! The event is a cultural gathering of First Nations and basketball enthusiasts that attracts over 2,000 people and around 60 teams from as far north as Alaska and as far south as Ahousaht on Vancouver Island.

New ocean observatory and radar for Prince Rupert

Overview

Today, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) completed installation of a community ocean observatory and two land-based high-frequency radar stations within Ts’msyen Territory at Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Similar observatories were installed at Kitamaat Village and Campbell River. ![PR_platform-deployment.jpg](https://cdn.onc-prod.intergalactic.space/PR_platform_deployment_51b79c48bf.jpg) Located on Digby Island near the Prince Rupert airport, the new community observatory includes an underwater cabled seafloor platform equipped with a live-streaming video camera, instruments that measure local water quality, and a hydrophone that records the underwater sounds of whales and the noise caused by ships. On shore, a weather station and above-ground video camera tracks environmental conditions 24/7. Monitoring the surface waters nearby, a new high-frequency land-based radar system provides data on sea surface currents and a co-located automatic identification system (AIS) antenna tracks ships in Chatham Sound. Further south, a second radar installation at Ridley Island provides two additional complementary radar systems—one to work with the Digby Island radar to extend coverage of the region’s sea surface currents, and another to measure waves, within a shorter range. Automatic identification system antennas at both Digby and Ridley Island also track large ships in the region. All of the observatory data are streaming to a shore station in the village and from there, to Oceans 2.0, ONC’s advanced data management system. Data are freely available for viewing through the ONC website. An initiative of the University of Victoria, Ocean Networks Canada operates world-leading cabled observatories in the northeast Pacific Ocean and Arctic Ocean. In 2014, ONC’s Smart Ocean™ Systems received funding from [Western Economic Diversification](http://www.wd.gc.ca/eng/home.asp) to install [a number of ocean observatories](http://communications.uvic.ca/releases/release.php?display=release&id=1415) along the British Columbia coast. By continuously collecting, archiving and delivering data from the ocean, these observatories provide information that will help make informed decisions about earthquakes and tsunamis, climate change, coastal management, conservation and marine safety.

Ocean Networks Canada Attends the 38th Annual Prince Rupert Seafest

Overview

Seafest has been bringing together Prince Rupert and surrounding communities every June since 1978, in a celebration of coastal life with fun events, activities, food and entertainment throughout the city. For the second year in a row, Ocean Networks Canada’s (ONC) Learning and Engagement team members, Mercedes McLean and Jessica Brown, participated in the two-day festival that celebrates everything northern, including three-on-three basketball tournaments, tours of navy ships, arm wrestling competitions, a Swim for Survival race, a sail past, a kayak fire drill race, and much more.

A first anniversary for British Columbia’s community observatories

Overview

Coastal communities are facing a variety of rapid environmental changes. Real-time data from cabled observatories can be used by community members to make informed decisions about their coastal and marine resources. In March 2016, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) continued to push the innovation envelope by deploying three community observatories along the British Columbia coast: in Campbell River, Kitamaat Village, and Prince Rupert (Figure 1). After a year in operation, this first anniversary review celebrates the successes, challenges, and future for ONC’s community observatories.

Don Krusel retires as President and CEO of Prince Rupert Port Authority

Overview

On 11 September 2017, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) board member Don Krusel announced his retirement from his role as president and CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, after serving as a visionary leader of that organization for the past 25 years. Krusel remains a valuable member of the ONC board of directors (Figure 1).

Helping remote coastal communities to #knowtheocean

Overview

Since 2012, Ocean Networks Canada’s (ONC) community observatories in the Arctic and along the British Columbia coast have delivered high-tech ocean monitoring solutions directly into the hands of coastal communities.