VI Hybrid Club Night: BC Marine Trail’s Coastal Caretakers

Please join VI South for our first club night of the season on Tuesday, September 19!
Fred Pishalski is the Vancouver Island Regional Manager (volunteer position) for BC Marine Trails (BCMT). He is also on BCMT’s Trail Development Committee plus the South Island Sea Kayaking Association (SISKA) liaison to BCMTs. SISKA is Canada’s largest kayak club and is based in Victoria, Fred does volunteer work for them as well.
Fred, along with friends from a Men’s Group, first kayak trip was to the Broken Islands in 1986. Since then, he has paddled all over Vancouver Island, the central coast and Haida Gwaii. He has also done trips to Mexico’s Baja and other countries. As an active SISKA member, he is usually out paddling every week all year around in local waters. Fred is a retired provincial civil servant, is married to Gail Miller and they live in Oak Bay.

BC Marine Trails is a non-profit organization working together to help secure long term public access to the BC Coast. Our mission is to work with First Nations and stakeholders to build, protect and promote a public network of marine trails allowing safe recreational navigation of the BC Coastline with minimal impact on the environment. We value the incredibly diverse environment of the BC coast. Our initiatives include shoreline cleanups, invasive species removals, site maintenance and more.

Coastal Caretakers are BCMT members who clean up beaches wherever they go, report for us and inspire others to take charge. We think of Coastal Caretakers as people who give VOICE to the coastal sites they explore. Their input and shared data extends our ability to advocate for safe marine recreation and continued access to the places we all love.

Hybrid Meeting Format

In-Person Attendees: For those attending in-person, the format will be very much the same as "normal". Doors open on September 19 at 7:00 and meeting starts at 7:30, with presentation immediately to follow.

COVID Protocol: COVID protocols have been suspended as per BCA policy available here.

Cost: $5/Members, $10/Non-Members

Virtual Attendees: Virtual club nights (via Zoom) have enabled BCA to continue our monthly meetings and presentations throughout the pandemic, with an added bonus of expanding our community to members and non-members across the globe. With the return to in-person meetings BCA has continued to provide a virtual component to our club nights as it has significant benefits to our membership. This however comes at a cost for the purchase of cameras, audio equipment and the lost revenue due to a decrease of in-person attendance used to off-set venue costs.

Cost: Members—$5.00 per connected device; Non-Members, $10 per connected device

Zoom meeting invitation: Please register via the website to purchase your virtual meeting ticket and receive the Zoom meeting invitation. Please note that you must be signed in to the BCA website to get the member price. We are not able to provide a reimbursement for those that do not sign in. If you have questions or challenges, please e-mail us.