June 8 2012 Undercurrent

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FRIDAY JUNE 8 2012 VOL. 39, NO. 6

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Watch for more online at: WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM

Distributing the fruit

The results are in

Turning them away

Community Foundation awards grants to groups and individuals

Spot the Ball organizer extends a huge thanks to community

Building Centre’s golf tournament had too many applicants

Divvying up grant money Council decides which organization gets what amount SUSANNE MARTIN EDITOR

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n the table were seven requests for community grants plus six applications for spring grants in aid. In a report to council, Karen Blow, the municipality’s chief financial officer (CFO), had clarified that grant requests exceeded the budget of $140,968 by $47,000, assuming that $6000 would be set aside for the fall grants in aid and $4,400 would support Abbeyfield development fees. Blow had prepared a list of recommendations that took granting history and indications of council into account. The discussion started at the May 28 council meeting. On June 4, council continued to weigh the merits of the applications against budget constraints. First up was the application of the Bowen Island Arts Council for a core grant of $58,000 to be used to “facilitate a myriad of services and programs,” according to the application. The requested amount made up just over a third of the arts council’s annual budget of $170,000. Councillor Alison Morse made the motion to award the arts council the sum of $55,000 that Blow had included in her list of recommendations. Councillor Tim Rhodes suggested reducing the amount to $47,000, the 2010 level but Morse explained that even in 2010, the arts council was awarded the base grant of $47,000 plus a $7,000 grant in aid at a total of $54,000. All councillors except Rhodes voted in favour of awarding $55,000 to the Bowen Island Arts Council. The Bowen Island Historians had applied for a grant of $54,600 (plus a $2,000 grant in aid) to support a part-time archivist and a full-time curator. Rhodes said that he sees this as an effort worth supporting. Mayor Jack Adelaar said, “[The historians] started off as a society that did archival work on Bowen. It was always done by volunteers without the municipality’s assistance. Now the archivist has left and they’ve asked the municipality to step in for a paid position instead of a continued PAGE 3

Cpl Nancy Joyce of the Bowen Island RCMP checks out the oysters that were returned to Sandy Beach after they had been illegally harvested this Tuesday. Susanne Martin photo

Quick response leads to apprehension of oyster poachers SUSANNE MARTIN EDITOR

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hortly after noon on June 5, Cpl Nancy Joyce of the Bowen Island RCMP got a call about a group of people illegally harvesting oysters on Sandy Beach. This was not the first time local police has been alerted to activities like this. But this week, the information arrived in time to take action. “We headed down there right away and on the way we got another report from someone else who had phoned to report that there were 20 people taking oysters.” This estimate turned out to

be inaccurate according to Joyce who found six men at Sandy Beach. Brian Biddlecombe, owner and operator of Cormorant Marina had also stopped to check out the situation. “The men had arrived in a van and one had a 15 to 20-litre-cooler full of oysters,” Joyce said, adding that they were on their way back to the beach to return the shellfish. “Someone had obviously told them to take the oysters back,” Joyce explained. “They had also thrown a bag of oysters into the bushes. We told them to go and find it.” Joyce explained that the men had to make their way through blackberry brambles

to retrieve the bag to return the oysters to the beach. “They were clearly coming here to take oysters,” Joyce said, adding that the men held fishing licences and stated that they hadn’t been aware that this activity was illegal on Bowen Island. “A lot of people come to Bowen thinking that they can harvest oysters, clams and mussels and they don’t check the regulations before they get here,” Joyce said, adding that she told the group to check local regulations because all of Bowen Island is a closed area for any amount of bivalve harvesting. continued PAGE 2

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