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Happy World Orca Day! Sound up 🔈 In celebra

Happy World Orca Day! Sound up 🔈

In celebration of this beautiful species, we wanted to highlight our local Northern Resident community of fish eating orca and share some of the recent calls that we have recorded on our hydrophones in Gitga’at Territory. Northern residents pass their acoustic traditions from the mothers to their children, who will learn the calls of their families. This means that the more related orca in this community are to each other, the more similar they sound. For us as researchers, this is huge as it allows us to identify pods that arrive into an area without actually seeing them with our eyes, and highlights the importance of sound in the water!

This is exactly what happened earlier this month. Just as it was getting dark, we heard calls from the A1 pod of northern residents. Through the darkness, we “followed” this family with our ears as they traveled down Squally Channel. Sound on, and you too can be acoustically transported into the water with them. In certain families, the matriarch may place a certain unique inflection on a call, or use a specific call that other more distantly related whales in the same family do not use. This is the case with the A34’s, who have retained a call named the “A12 special” named after the late matriarch, that is used exclusively by this family. For this reason, we believe this is the family you are listening to here! There is so much we can learn and understand about orca just from listening.

This is a day to celebrate and raise awareness for orca and you don’t have to be out in the field to make an impact. Your desire to learn and share your knowledge does more than you know. We will be celebrating all season long and invite you to do the same and follow along with us!

To learn more about orca in bc, visit our website at bcwhales.org/orca

Land based whale research - does it get much bette

Land based whale research - does it get much better than this?

We are so fortunate to be able to work where we do, where the whales glide right past our research station, and we can gather as much information as possible with minimal impact.

On July 10th, as a humpback whale BCX1591 surfaced within meters of shore we were able to take photos for individual identification and to look for evidence of ship strike and entanglement scars, put the research drone in the air with a focus on collecting body size and health information, and monitored our hydrophone for vocal activity. All of this information can then be paired together to give us a robust glimpse into the lives of this whale and others!

Please also note that this drone footage was collected under a specialized research permit, and that flying drones over whales without such a permit is illegal in Canada.

Beautiful, flat calm conditions drew us south into

Beautiful, flat calm conditions drew us south into Caamano Sound and around Campania Island today.

The last few days have been true “arrival” days in this region, where we have observed an influx of both humpback and fin whales. Among these whales are individuals whom we have known for 10, 15, and even 20 years or more throughout our time conducting research in Gitga’at Territory. These are true seasonally resident whales, who return year after year to these waters to feed. We were thrilled today to find that Sonar, Cheetah, Salmon, and Tiny Wings have made it back from their migrations. As well as Sling, who has arrived with a new calf in tow this year. Cheetah and Salmon were bubble net feeding together, both long term bubble netters coming together to feed cooperatively.

We were also able to get our research drone in the air above a fin whale, to collect body size and body condition measurements which are critical to monitor the health of the whales in this region, and place into context the threats that they face.

At the same time we were on the water, our crew on land documented 3 fin whales and a humpback whale at close range to the station, as well as monitored our network of hydrophones and scanned for whales in the distance.

Our research season is in full swing, and the whales have arrived!

The social dynamics of humpback whales are a true

The social dynamics of humpback whales are a true marvel. Why do whales choose to be with each other? Who do they choose to be with? When? And for how long?

All of these questions were brought back to the forefronts of our minds today as the intricacies of social connections and decision making played out in front of our eyes just meters away from the fin island research station.

Early this morning, well known humpback BCY1154 Top Notch arrived and bubble net fed alone. About an hour later, Penny (BCX1622) and Tern (BCY0966) rounded the corner. Immediately, Top Notch completely changed directions and started moving directly towards them. A few minutes later, we began to hear bubbles and feeding calls again on the hydrophone – but this time, Top Notch had joined Penny and Tern and all 3 fed cooperatively together before leaving as a group.

2 hours later, who should arrive back in front of Fin Island, but Top Notch. Alone again, but not for long. Splotch (BCX1484) rounded the corner about 30 minutes later, quickly joining Top Notch for a brief social interaction. That is, until Dolphin (BCY0505) and her new calf came onto the scene – at which point Splotch left Top Notch’s side in favour of escorting Dolphin and her calf. What is so fascinating about this interaction and decision making is that Splotch is a mother herself, and had a calf in tow last year. But, as humpback tradition outlines, calves only stay with their mothers for about a year – and so Splotch is once again in the world “on her own”.

The ability to know whales as individuals is what allows deep insights into the long-term and short-term social bonds that humpback whales forge. Some whales find each other’s company year after year after year, some come together for brief periods, and some may never interact.

Photos:
📸 1: Top Notch
📸 2: Top Notch, Penny, and Tern bubble net feeding
📸 3: Dolphin diving in front of the lab
📸 4: Dolphins calf diving in front of the lab

The first fully loaded LNG tanker leaves Kitimat.

The first fully loaded LNG tanker leaves Kitimat.

Last night at 2am, the first LNG tanker made its w

Last night at 2am, the first LNG tanker made its way through Squally Channel en route to fill up with Liquefied Natural Gas in Kitimat, BC.

This was a very surreal moment for our team. For years we have been gathering baseline data preparing for this moment, the changes it will bring to this region, and the impacts it will have on the whales. This is just the beginning, these transits will soon become a daily occurrence in these waters.

In the past week we have seen rain, wind, and fog at the Fin Island Research Station. Through luck or divine intervention, the fog cleared as the night progressed to allow us to see the far reaches of the channel and watch as this tanker slipped in under the cover of darkness. At the same time, we watched crashing waves light up the marine world with bioluminescence. We couldn’t help but to think that the ocean was on our side and protesting a night transit of this massive tanker.

These tankers pose an immense risk to whales. The noise pollution impacts their ability to communicate, navigate, and forage. Their presence alone threatens their lives directly through the risk of a lethal collision. This risk of ship-strike is only made worse at night, where humpback and fin whales spend more time near the surface of the water as they follow their prey up the water column, and are invisible vessels in the darkness.

The tanker was escorted by a tug boat, there to help guide the LNG carrier through the narrow channels of these inner fjordic waters. All we could see were their lights as they seemingly moved as one. We watched, we listened, and we thought of the whales and how their habitat is about to change.

When we arrived to Fin Island this year, we were g

When we arrived to Fin Island this year, we were greeted by a myriad of humpback whales, fin whales, and families of northern resident orca. It was the perfect “homecoming” and sparked instant inspiration for us all.

During the winter, we spend most of our time on our computers working away at processing the data that we collected the year before, and reporting on what we saw. It is important work, but for most of our team, the connection to the whales and the desire to protect their habitats is what keeps us going.

Seeing whales on arrival was an instant reminder of why we do what we do, and rekindled our connection and drive to better understand and advocate for them. In the days since, the whale activity from Fin Island has quieted down. We are living our days scanning for signs of whales in the distance, monitoring our network of hydrophones, and patiently waiting for the whales to move back into this region.

We are right where we need to be, and we are ready.

Grace and Janie were recently welcomed into the Ki

Grace and Janie were recently welcomed into the Kitasoo Xai’xais school in the village of Klemtu where they presented to 3 different classrooms about whales and acoustics, a highlight being acting out how humpback whales bubble net feed with the grade 1-3 school children, lots of laughter while learning about whales.

That evening we had the pleasure of presenting to the community with other researchers in the territory, topics ranging from crabs, to salmon, to whales. The evening was extremely educational, with the message hitting us all that the spirit of collaboration is essential as we all move towards protecting sacred marine spaces along the coast of BC.

#whaleresearch

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BC WHALES | NORTH COAST CETACEAN SOCIETY

A non-profit whale-research organization dedicated to the research and protection of cetaceans along the northern coast of British Columbia.

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