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Giving whales their personal space

Editor: If you have lived on the Coast for some time, it has been quite exciting in the past few years witnessing more cetacean sightings than ever.

 

Editor:

If you have lived on the Coast for some time, it has been quite exciting in the past few years witnessing more cetacean sightings than ever.  

There have always been the odd sightings of our southern resident orca making a pass in our area and northern residents’ sightings from time-to-time.

The northern killer whale resident numbers are now over 200, the southern resident killer whales are now at their lowest numbers in 30 years with a population of only 78.  In 1994 there were 98 accounted for.  

What we are witnessing now are regular visits of Bigg’s (transient) orca, named after the late Dr. Mike Bigg, a pioneer in killer whale identification research. This group is quite different. They generally travel in smaller groups and, unlike the resident orca, they prey exclusively on seals, sea lions, porpoises, dolphins and other large whales. 

To date there is no record of them ever harming humans. 

Humpback reports are now more frequent, too.

With all these sightings of more whales, dolphins and porpoises, its hard not to get excited and want to get a closer look, but there are regulations that need to be adhered to and come with stiff penalties and fines if violated.

Enjoy those moments when they pass through and at the same time respect their personal space.