The A42 Orca Pod and Pacific White-Sided Dolphins

Canada’s Arctic Marine Atlas, just produced by Oceans North and its partners, provides an overview of the marine mammals, seabirds, fish and other wildlife that thrive in our northern waters – and highlights the importance of a healthy ecosystem for the people who live there.

The chapter on Marine Mamals describes the distribution and ecology of the Narwal, Beluga and Bowhead whales of Canada’s Arctic.

Freely downloadable, the Canada’s Arctic Marine Atlas, published jointly with Ducks Unlimited Canada and World Wildlife Fund Canada, offers a comprehensive look at an environment undergoing dramatic shifts due to climate change….
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Whale watchers off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, were treated to a rare sight last month when three humpback whales performed an incredible triple breach.

On Aug. 17, Edmond Giroux, a passenger with Ocean Explorations Zodiac Whale Cruises, took a video of the whales launching one by one out of the water.

"Get ready, it’s going to be a triple breach!" one of the tour operators can be heard saying as the trio of whales dive down. They then reappear on the horizon as onlookers squeal with excitement….
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The summer of 2018 has seen a succession of announcements for investments and new projects designed to better understand and protect belugas. Because it is important to take the time to celebrate our victories, here is a summary of good news for St. Lawrence belugas.

Last July’s amendment to the Marine Mammal Regulations of the Fisheries Act stipulates that a distance of 400 metres must be maintained when observing St. Lawrence belugas throughout the Estuary. Previously, this measure applied only to waters within the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park. The new regulations concern all types of watercraft – kayaks, motorboats, Zodiacs, sailboats, etc. – operated by professionals or recreational boaters. "For belugas, it’s great news," says Robert Michaud, scientific director at the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM). "By adopting such a regulation, Fisheries and Oceans Canada sends a clear message: Belugas need their space and the responsibility of protecting belugas lies with each and every one of us." It’s also good news for other species: a minimum distance of 100 metres must be maintained between marine mammals and boats in all Canadian waters.

To provide St. Lawrence belugas with a peaceful area, Parks Canada has established an area off limits to watercraft in the mouth of the Saguenay’s Baie Sainte-Marguerite. In this context, every year between June 21 and September 21, boats are prohibited from operating in the mouth of the bay, in an effort to limit disturbing the belugas that go there to rest, socialize and care for their young and newborns. The research team…
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A video showing a humpback whale colliding with an inflatable tour boat off the coast of Nova Scotia is making waves online, just a few months after the introduction of new federal rules limiting the distance between vessels and marine mammals.

David Mulder, a passenger on the Zodiac inflatable whale watching boat, posted the video from Sept. 2 showing the whale’s tail suddenly rising from the water and then slamming down onto the bow of the small boat.

The eight-passenger Zodiac, captained by Guy Melville, is the smallest tour boat in the fleet at Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises.

In July, the federal Fisheries Department implemented new regulations that require people and vessels to maintain a minimum distance of 100 metres from most whales, dolphins and porpoises to protect them from human disturbances.

A distance of 200 meters is required when approaching killer whales in B.C. and the St. Lawrence Estuary beluga in Quebec….
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A study published this week in the journal American Geophysical Union found that phthalates, a common class of chemical additives found in many of the goods inside our homes-such as plastics, cosmetics, and paints-are also present in bottlenose dolphins.

This is the first time these chemicals have been found in wild dolphins. The animals in this area have become well-known to researchers, who have been studying these creatures for more than 40 years….
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Eastern Tropical Pacific Orcas swimming and hunting together in a pod off the Orange County Coastline. They are as beautiful as they are deadly, and this was nature in action, according to Capt. Dave Anderson. The full video is below, however viewer discretion is advised.

The rarely seen pod consisting of 8 to 10 orcas has been swimming in the waters off Dana Point, California. Most recently sighted Sunday, Dona Kalez of Dana Wharf Whale Watching told us, all local whale watching charters agree that this coastal attention by the ETP “killer whales” has come with deadly results for the local dolphin population.

Whale watching passengers aboard vessels operated by Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari, as well as Dana Wharf Whale Watching and others were both thrilled and shocked to witness the Orcas hunt bottlenose and common dolphins.

“I’ve never seen anything like this anywhere, whether on television or in person,” says Captain Dave Anderson. “It’s really hard to see a dolphin ripped to shreds by another dolphin, because that’s what killer whales are, the biggest dolphin in the world. That’s why I call these animals killer whales instead of orca, because that’s what they are. I’ve seen them do that to a sea lion right in front of my boat and we know they kill whales.”…
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