Orca, Humpbacks, Dolphins and Group of Harbour Porpoise

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REGIONAL & WEST COAST

The Canadian Coast Guard is responding after up to 178 litres of diesel spilled near a protected killer whale habitat off northern Vancouver Island.

A citizen reported fuel on the beach and in the water near Port Harvey Marina, across Johnstone Strait from Vancouver Island and about 25 kilometres from Robson Bight Ecological Reserve.

The marina is closed for the season.

The spill was initially reported at up to 1,100 litres, based on the capacity of the fuel tank from which it came. The estimate was reduced after Transport Canada flew over the area.

A decade of observation in a fjord on B.C.’s North Coast has uncovered an intriguing pattern among the thriving humpback whales that feed there each summer.

Researchers call it a “whale wave,” in a peer-reviewed study published this week in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.

Each year, as hundreds of humpbacks arrive in the Kitimat fjord system, near Hartley Bay, B.C., they follow a seasonal pattern, as observed in visual surveys by the Gitga’at First Nation and North Coast Cetacean Society.

The whales start in outer waters and move into the inlet and Douglas Channel – but it’s not clear why….

Three underwater robots spent weeks listening to grey whales off the west coast of Vancouver Island last month, so scientists can learn more about what the whales are doing in northern waters.

The two-metre long yellow gliders travelled together in underwater canyons over the continental shelf near Clayoquot Sound.

“They’re like torpedoes with little wings,” said Richard Dewey, Associate Director of Science Services for Ocean Networks Canada.

“They’re measuring sea water temperature, but they had …

For better or worse, the era of live cetaceans at the Vancouver Aquarium appears to be coming to an end.
On Thursday night, following two days of passionate debate from dozens of speakers, the Vancouver Park Board voted unanimously to move toward banning the importation or display of whales, dolphins and porpoises at the popular Stanley Park attraction.
Staff members have been asked to present a draft bylaw amendment to facilitate the change by May 15.

INTERNATIONAL

Sightings of True’s beaked whales are so rare that even the most devoted whale expert can go an entire career without ever seeing one in the wild. Researchers working near the Azores are now the first to ever capture underwater footage of these aquatic creatures in their natural habitat.

The new footage, captured by a research team …

A new study involving biologists from Monash University Australia has found that despite their very different ancestors, dolphins and crocodiles evolved similarly-shaped skulls to feed on similar prey.

Dolphins and crocodiles now live in rivers and oceans, but each evolved from land-based animals. Feeding in water has many new challenges. This new study shows that despite being separated by 300 million years, dolphins and crocodiles found comparable solutions to these problems, and evolved skull shapes that are remarkably similar …

Researchers observed 22 instances of humpback whales gathering in never-before-seen groups of 20 to 200 whales, on three separate trips off the southwest coast of South Africa. The study’s authors write that such large aggregations haven’t been recorded on prior research trips except for one sighting of 20 whales, which was more likely a number of smaller groups. Changes in the whales’ prey, or a growing population, might be leading to the new behavior. Or maybe the whales are plotting to take down humanity.

"It’s quite unusual to see them in such large groups," Gísli Vikingsson, head of whale research at the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute in Iceland told New Scientist…

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