By Finn CarlsonGrade 3 BCE
On Wednesday, June 5, 2013 the BCE Grade Three class went to the wharf, where some Fisheries people showed us some interesting things about their work.
Thanks to Janice Newkirk and Centennial Pool we were able to use some new PFD’s. They were yellow and had two straps and a zipper. The PFD’s were sent to Bella Coola by the Lifesaving Society and the Canadian Red Cross as part of a program called Open-Water-Wisdom. They were awesome!
Anyone who wants to borrow a PFD can contact the Bella Coola Lending Program at Centennial Pool. We got on the bus and drove quickly to the Wharf. When we got there we were split into four groups and we did four stations and each group went to a different station. One of the stations was to see the Coast Guard boat. The captain showed us the control room, the radar, the engine room, the top of his boat, and the galley.
The next station was the Fisheries speedboat. The captain showed us the driver’s and navigator’s seats, two huge motors that were 250 horse power each and he showed us a crab trap that had two big sunfish. At the next station we got to use some very high power binoculars and a telescope.
Then we attached a camera to the telescope and took pictures of our friends. We also were able to use really cool night vision glasses in a dark room. The last station was the best. We got to use a seine net to catch fish. We put it out then trapped fish in the net. We caught about 16 smolts and we also caught three sculpins.
Then we put them in buckets and looked closely at them before setting them free. When we were finished at the stations we went to the front of the dock and got some stickers, activity books, pencils, whistles and some people got measuring tapes.
It was nice that Centennial Pool could loan us the life jackets, and that the Fisheries workers showed us all around and told us about their jobs, fish, and boats.