Our research and education vessel, Achiever
Building up to be its busiest year to date, 2022 will see Achiever back off shore.
In 2021, Raincoast welcomed a new marine operations manager and Captain, Drew Grav-Graham, to the team. Having made the jump from the ecotourism industry, Drew brings a wealth of experience and renewed enthusiasm for SV Achiever and the marine program.
Diving straight into months of seabird surveys off the west coast of Vancouver Island in the winter and spring, Achiever was put back to its original purpose, doing line transect work offshore. Under contract for Environment and Climate Change Canada, we have been working with a team of biologists to collect baseline data of both local and migratory seabird populations from Brooks Peninsula south and up into the Salish Sea basin.
Achiever and team also guided six weeks of trips in the Salish Sea for Raincoast’s Salish Sea Emerging Stewards (SSES) program with youth and community members from the W̱SÁNEĆ, Quw’utsun (Cowichan) and Tsawwassen Nations, amongst pandemic cancelations and maintenance. We learned so much from these inspiring youth and knowledge holders, exploring their territories with them.
Building up to be its busiest year to date, 2022 will see Achiever back off shore for more seabird surveys (lasting until the end of 2024), as well as an expanded SSES program, Haíɫzaqv and Kitasoo/Xai’xais youth and donor trips in the Great Bear Rainforest, as well as helping to support and foster Raincoast’s new Healthy Waters program.
You can help
Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.
We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.
