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Quiet year on Cowichan Lake, River, police say

So far, so good, with river and lake traffic: RCMP
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Families have simply been enjoying a good time on the water at Lake Cowichan this year, RCMP say. (Lexi Bainas/Gazette file)

Mounties are finding that visitors to Lake Cowichan are taking it easy and enjoying themselves reasonably quietly on the water this year, according to Cpl. David Motley of the Lake Cowichan RCMP detachment.

“To be honest, we haven’t received any phone calls from anybody on the lake so far this summer regarding lake activities,” he said in an interview Wednesday, July 31 just before the August long weekend.

“We have actually been patrolling on [Cowichan Lake] for the past several weeks, at various times during the week. We’ve been stopping some boaters, having some positive interactions with them, educating some of the boaters and vacationers out there.”

How are the Cowichan River tubers doing this year? So far everyone’s been considerate, he said.

“We’ve had no complaints from tubers. Everyone seems to be enjoying the water. It’s been a little bit unseasonably cool the past few weeks but there are still people out there.”

He agreed with the idea that so far this summer the traffic on the Cowichan River hasn’t perhaps been as rowdy as it has been some previous summers.

“Yeah, that seems to be our experience this year. We haven’t received any calls of distress on the water yet from any of the tubers or any complaints about them. So far, everyone has been behaving.

“We’ll have members deployed to the lake several times a week during the rest of the summer, typically on the weekends, making some educational stops and making sure everyone’s being safe on the water,” Motley said.

There has been talk on Facebook of jet ski riders coming too close to shore and even jumping boom barriers but those reports have not reached the police station yet.



lexi.bainas@cowichanvalleycitizen.com

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