Otterly Adorable
Hangs 118 cm long
This buoy was found washed up on a rocky beach on Balaclava Island, near the northern tip of Vancouver Island. It likely was used in a prawn or crab fishery, either recreational or commercial.
The top float is much older and is made of wood. Before plastic was common, fishermen used hand carved cedar floats painted in tar. Wooden floats are less durable and much heavier than plastic, they eventually degrade and are rare to find on beaches these days. The bottom float is a modern plastic net ‘cork’ donated to me by Lange, a salmon fisherman in Bristol Bay Alaska. The line this piece hangs on is old buoy from the prawn fishery and was also donated to me by a local fisherman.
On this buoy I have painted a couple of sea otters diving for urchins in a beautiful bull kelp forest. This species of kelp has buoyant, carbon monoxide filled bulbs, which hold the fronds of this brown algae near the surface so it can photosynthesize. Kelp forests are very important habitat for many marine species including sea otters. Sea otters were almost wiped out by fur traders in the 19th century, but 89 individuals were reintroduced between 1969 and 1972 from Alaska, where their population remained strong, to Checleset Bay on the Northwest of Vancouver Island. Today there are now thousands of them in BC and they play an important role in our ocean ecosystem, keeping urchins in check so our coastal kelp forests can flourish. Sea otters use kelp forests to hunt for food as well as a secure place to wrap themselves and their babies up for a nap, so they don’t float away. I have also painted a school of Pacific herring, sea urchins, plumose anemones, proliferating/brooding anemones, ochre sea stars, a sunflower sea star and vermillion sea stars.
Thank you for supporting the creation of art from waste, 10% of the purchase price of this piece of art will be donated to the Ucluelet Aquarium marine debris research initiative to help better understand the effects of microplastics in the marine environment.