Mobile Menu

  • Destinations
    • Canada
      • British Columbia
        • Vancouver Island, B.C.
        • Okanagan
        • Lower Mainland, B.C.
        • Northern B.C.
        • Interior B.C.
        • Kootenays/Rockies
      • Alberta
      • Yukon
      • Northwest Territories
    • U.S.A.
      • Alaska
      • Washington
      • Oregon
      • California
    • West Coast Galleries
  • Experiences
    • Things To Do
    • Staycation Secrets
      • Canada
      • U.S.A.
    • Adventure
      • Adrenaline
      • Beaches
      • Biking
      • Camping
      • Fishing
      • Hiking
      • Hunting and Fishing
      • Rafting
      • Skiing
    • Sip & Savour
    • Family Activities
    • Indigenous Tourism
    • Accessible Travel
    • Travel Tips & Advisories
  • West Coast Galleries
    • Nature Photography
    • Wildlife Photography
    • Cityscapes
  • Contests
    • It’s A Shore Thing Summer Getaway
    • Camel’s Hump Guest Ranch Getaway
    • Raft. Relax. Recharge
  • About
    • The Armchair Traveller Newsletter
    • Explore our travel guides
    • Impressive West Coast
    • West Coast Partners
    • West Coast Traveller Directory
    • Join Our Team
    • Contact Us
    • Explore West Coast Traveller on TikTok
  • Search
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • TikTok Icon
  • Flickr Icon
  • Menu
  • Skip to left header navigation
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • TikTok Icon
  • Flickr Icon

West Coast Traveller

  • Destinations
    • Canada
      • British Columbia
        • Vancouver Island, B.C.
        • Okanagan
        • Lower Mainland, B.C.
        • Northern B.C.
        • Interior B.C.
        • Kootenays/Rockies
      • Alberta
      • Yukon
      • Northwest Territories
    • U.S.A.
      • Alaska
      • Washington
      • Oregon
      • California
    • West Coast Galleries
  • Experiences
    • Things To Do
    • Staycation Secrets
      • Canada
      • U.S.A.
    • Adventure
      • Adrenaline
      • Beaches
      • Biking
      • Camping
      • Fishing
      • Hiking
      • Hunting and Fishing
      • Rafting
      • Skiing
    • Sip & Savour
    • Family Activities
    • Indigenous Tourism
    • Accessible Travel
    • Travel Tips & Advisories
  • West Coast Galleries
    • Nature Photography
    • Wildlife Photography
    • Cityscapes
  • Contests
    • It’s A Shore Thing Summer Getaway
    • Camel’s Hump Guest Ranch Getaway
    • Raft. Relax. Recharge
  • About
    • The Armchair Traveller Newsletter
    • Explore our travel guides
    • Impressive West Coast
    • West Coast Partners
    • West Coast Traveller Directory
    • Join Our Team
    • Contact Us
    • Explore West Coast Traveller on TikTok
  • Search
You are here: Home / news / Discovery Islands resurfacing as a B.C. humpback hot spot

Jared Towers photographed this humpback whale and four others in 2018 near Port McNeill, Alert Bay, and Hanson Island. JARED TOWERS PHOTO

Discovery Islands resurfacing as a B.C. humpback hot spot

August 26, 2022 //  by Local Journalism Initiative

Share this:

By Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter CANADA’S NATIONAL OBSERVER

It’s marvellously symbolic that Nick the humpback whale returns year after year with her offspring to the waters surrounding the Discovery Islands, wedged between B.C.’s remote central coast and Vancouver Island.

She frequents the waters off Cortes Island near Whaletown — once a whaling station and rendering plant set up in 1868 as part of a colonial industry that eradicated humpbacks in the waters off eastern Vancouver Island by the early 20th century.

Now the species is back. Among them is Nick, named for the distinct U-shaped notch in her dorsal fin.

A prolific mother, she’s had five calves since 2008 — the most recent this year, said Jackie Hildering, whale researcher and co-founder of the Marine Education Research Society (MERS).

Isolated sightings of humpbacks were reported in the Georgia Strait again in the mid-1980s, but sightings of the massive marine mammals in the Discovery Islands region have skyrocketed in the past decade, becoming one of the hot spots of activity for the baleen giants in the Salish Sea, said Hildering.

“This area has gone from 23 individual sightings in 2015 to around 100 humpbacks feeding off the Discovery Islands four years later,” Hildering said.

“It’s a rare good news story where we didn’t push humpbacks over the edge and they were able to build a population again,” she said.

READ MORE: Rare white orca from California spotted taking a big family trip to B.C.

The surge in humpbacks in the Discovery Islands and waters of northeast Vancouver Island is not due to population growth alone, Hildering said. But it’s still a mystery for whale researchers in the North Pacific as to where the new residents are coming from.

Climate change is a global threat scientists believe could impact humpback recovery worldwide as higher water temperatures potentially change whales’ food distribution — possibly resulting in nutritional stress and drops in reproduction, as well as shifts in foraging and breeding grounds or migration schedules.

Humpbacks in southeast Alaska experienced steep population drops along with survival and reproductive rates tied to an intense two-year marine heat wave starting in 2014 that smothered the Pacific coast and was dubbed The Blob.

However, the humpbacks that went missing from Alaska are not the whales showing up in the waters off eastern Vancouver Island, Hildering said.

The humpbacks’ return to this region offers residents a chance at redemption if we can take measures that will sustain the whales’ conservation. The greatest immediate and preventable threats are still human-caused in the form of boat strikes and entanglement in fishing gear, Hildering said.

READ MORE: J-pod’s newest member is a girl

Fifty per cent of humpbacks in the region have entanglement scars, she added, noting impacts from boat strikes are harder to determine because whales killed by boats typically sink to the ocean floor.

Humpback hot spots are often areas of heavy boat activity, increasing the risk to the resident whales who return to their favourite haunts each summer to forage.

Nick has scars from clashes with gear and a vessel, but has survived to accompany each of her offspring to her favourite coastal waters for their first visit. Calves only remain with their mothers for a year or so.

One of Nick’s recent calves named Splashy, likely born in 2020 in Hawaii, arrived in B.C. that same summer. The young humpback made waves with researchers when it was sighted swimming alone near Hornby Island and nearby waters in the early winter of 2021. The event raises questions about when or under what conditions young humpbacks separate from their mothers and migrate to warmer waters.

This summer, Nick is accompanied by her most recent calf Maite, named in memory of a young victim of the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May, Hildering said, noting the 11-year-old had wanted to be a marine biologist.

Humpbacks in the region aren’t just passing through on their way to somewhere else, Hildering said.

She encourages citizens to report humpbacks in local waters and to respect them as individuals and neighbours to help researchers identify specific areas the animals frequent, feeding strategies, survival rates and injuries and how we can better protect them.

The whales come to the Discovery Islands in summer to bulk up on krill and small schooling fish in B.C.’s cool, dark waters before — like many Canadian snowbirds — migrating to spend the winter in Hawaii, Mexico, and possibly, even Central America or Japan.

These destinations feature warmer waters with less food but are safer nurseries for newly born calves, she said.

Resident whales have specific behaviours and preferred fishing techniques adapted to the region, she added.

The area’s waters are characterized by rapid currents that tend to disperse fish, so humpbacks don’t often employ the famed technique known as “bubble-net feeding” — where whales co-operate to corral a school of fish with one member blowing a net of bubbles to prevent their prey from escaping.

The region’s humpbacks, a MERS study found, have developed trap feeding, a sort of lazy man’s version of the more commonly used lunge method where the animals charge a dense school of fish, engulfing them in baleen maws.

This unique method sees whales lounge on the ocean’s surface with their mouths open letting small fish and fleeing seabirds seek shelter inside their massive jaws.

The humpback then spin or use their flippers to push fish further into their baleen mouths to secure their meal.

More than 20 area humpbacks rely on this energy-efficient technique when fish don’t form tight schools, MERS said.

The safety of whales and humans improves if recreational boaters and vessel operators are well-versed on local humpbacks’ habits and favourite haunts, Hildering said.

Humpbacks don’t use sonar to hunt and are oblivious to vessels, especially if feeding during the day, and can surface unexpectedly, she said.

Slowing down in humpback hot spots and being on the lookout for other whale indicators — such as flocks of birds on the water or “blow” as the marine giants expel a cloud of moist air when surfacing — helps boat operators avoid collisions with the school bus-sized marine mammals.

The whales have very random travel patterns, so boaters shouldn’t assume humpbacks will travel in the same direction they were headed on their last observed dive, she said.

One whale named Inukshuk, who’s been returning to the region since at least 2008, is notorious for resting for long periods of time on the surface of the water during the day because he tends to feed on krill at night, said Hildering.

This means he “blows” infrequently, and looks remarkably like a log that boaters might not stay far enough away from, she said.

It’s worth taking extra care to protect Inukshuk because he’s also beloved for being one of the region’s most well-known vocalists when he sings during the day.

While all humpbacks vocalize, only males sing the complex songs the species is famous for.

But most other males in the area tend to sing at night and so are harder to identify.

Canada’s Marine Mammal Regulations state that boaters should stay at least 100 metres away from humpbacks, and double that distance if they are at rest or accompanied by calves.

But MERS recommends boaters actually maintain a 200-metre distance from humpbacks.

“We can act on this incredible privilege of humpbacks coming back to our coasts and having a second chance with them,” Hildering said.

Plan your adventures throughout the West Coast at westcoasttraveller.com and follow us on Facebook and Instagram @thewestcoasttraveller. And for the top West Coast Travel stories of the week delivered right to your inbox, sign up for our weekly Armchair Traveller newsletter!

Share this:

Category: news, TravelTag: British Columbia Destinations, Things to Do in Vancouver Island, Whales, Wildlife

Related Posts

You may be interested in these posts from the same category.

Calgary, Sooke + Haida Gwaii named 3 of the best fishing destinations in Canada

The three Western Canadian locations on FishingBooker.com’s list of Canada’s best fishing destinations reveal the…

Calgary, Sooke + Haida Gwaii named 3 of the best fishing destinations in CanadaRead More

Nature Conservancy of Canada purchases land for protection in southern Alberta

A property that includes fescue grasslands, forests and wetlands near Waterton Lakes National Park in…

Nature Conservancy of Canada purchases land for protection in southern AlbertaRead More

Parks Canada updating its reservation system to book camping and other activities

Parks Canada says visitors will be able to start booking reservations for camping and other…

Parks Canada updating its reservation system to book camping and other activitiesRead More

Knowledge is power: New guidebooks map accessible PNW trails

What is an ‘easy’ hike? For a mountaineer, an easy hike might be one that…

Knowledge is power: New guidebooks map accessible PNW trailsRead More

‘It was a super cool experience’: Wolfpack spotted hanging out in Kelowna

A Kelowna photographer captured images of a pack of wolves while on a weekend hike…

‘It was a super cool experience’: Wolfpack spotted hanging out in KelownaRead More

Gary the cat shreds the gnar in Golden

He might be a better skier and influencer than any Gen Z could imagine, possibly…

Gary the cat shreds the gnar in GoldenRead More

Travel on the Fly: Dine Out Vancouver; Waddling with penguins in Calgary; Fernie’s powder perfection + more!

What’s going on around the West Coast? Here’s your inside guide to what’s happening where,…

Travel on the Fly: Dine Out Vancouver; Waddling with penguins in Calgary; Fernie’s powder perfection + more!Read More

Nothing is the New Something in B.C.’s Southern Gulf Islands

Many travellers believe spring and summer are the best times to explore. That means the…

Nothing is the New Something in B.C.’s Southern Gulf IslandsRead More

Vancouver Island photographer’s bald eagle image is Canada’s choice for international contest

A dramatic image by professional Vancouver Island photographer Anthony Bucci will represent Canada in a…

Vancouver Island photographer’s bald eagle image is Canada’s choice for international contestRead More

Previous Post: « VIDEO: Black bear plays in B.C. MP’s bird bath
Next Post: ‘Festival atmosphere’: Orcas feast in Nanaimo’s Departure Bay »

Primary Sidebar

Things To Do

Calgary, Sooke + Haida Gwaii named 3 of the best fishing destinations in Canada

January 31, 2023

Nature Conservancy of Canada purchases land for protection in southern Alberta

January 31, 2023

Parks Canada updating its reservation system to book camping and other activities

January 31, 2023

Knowledge is power: New guidebooks map accessible PNW trails

January 30, 2023

Recent Posts

Calgary, Sooke + Haida Gwaii named 3 of the best fishing destinations in Canada

January 31, 2023

Nature Conservancy of Canada purchases land for protection in southern Alberta

January 31, 2023

Parks Canada updating its reservation system to book camping and other activities

January 31, 2023

Knowledge is power: New guidebooks map accessible PNW trails

January 30, 2023

Footer

The West Coast Traveller has an immense social media footprint, with eight social media sites and and 125,000+ social followers.

Join us on social media and Join Our Community by sharing your stuff!

Get Inspired

News Media Groups

Black Press Media
Sound Publishing
Oahu Media Group
Alaska
Boulevard Magazines
Used.ca

Let’s Get Social

West Coast Traveller
I Love British Columbia
I Love Alberta
I Love Yukon
I Love Northwest Territories
I Love Washington
I Love California
I Love Oregon
I Love Alaska

Visit Our Companion Sites

I Love Saskatchewan
I Love Manitoba
I Love Nunavut
I Love Ontario
I Love Quebec
I Love Newfoundland and Labrador
I Love Nova Scotia
I Love New Brunswick
I Love Prince Edward Island

Site Footer

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • TikTok Icon

Copyright © 2023 West Coast Traveller and · All Rights Reserved