iBiome

World Oceans Day

Is today.  Lots of relevant links at Blogfish's Carnival of the Blue. Also there is DFO's page, the Suzuki Foundation, and the Vancouver Aquarium (who are celebrating the week).

Get wet.

 

Orcinus orca

 Last weekend while waiting for our ferry to cast off from Swartz Bay, Sidney, BC, a pod of resident killer whales passed within 100 m of us.  In all the excitement we managed only one decent photo, a female and her offspring, likely chasing dinner in the harbour.

hold fast

saltspring barnacles

"A Budding Business"

While glancing through the current BCBusiness Magazine today, I stumbled across the stat: Marijuana sales ($7.5 billion annually) are are the #3 driver of the BC economy, after forestry ($10 billion) and Construction ($7.9 billion), and dwarfing oil and gas at a paltry $3.5 billion.  I'm in the wrong corner of life sciences. 
From the article:

Sadie says she’s after Triple-A weed, which is classified as the highest grade of B.C. bud and sells for about $2,000 a pound. The couple’s crop alone is worth about $10,000, she explains, and the garden replenishes itself nearly five times a year.

The size of the industry is based on an RCMP estimate rather than BC Stats, but even if the number is halved marijuana still makes a staggering contribution to the BC economy, most of it in exports.  Weed dollars pour in to hardware stores, electricians, and grow-op suppliers.  One supplier, Abbotsford based Advanced Nutrients, grossed $20 million in 2003.  One quote estimates that there are 250,000 people involved in pot's underground economy in BC, which would be about 17% of the province's population. 

So, what I am wondering, is how the Goliath-size of the BC Bud economy affects public policy towards enforcement.  Certainly any government would have to think carefully about stamping out its 3rd largest industry. 

barnacles

Long Beach Sunset