Vancouver Humpback, Bigg`s Killer Whales and Dolphins are Back

April 9: Susan MacKay will be giving a short presentation at the Powell River Library’s Campfire Session: For the Love of Animals at Cranberry Hall at 7 pm.

We are always looking for volunteers interested in Cetacea and mapping, who would be willing to spend some time with our growing Society network.

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16:20 • 4 Bigg`s Orca heading East at Dent Island, Dent Rapids. ?T02Cs?

23:27 • 6-10 Bigg`s Orca hunting, heading South past Mitlenatch Island, Georgia Strait. One pod led me to another. They fed on a small group of harbour porpoises. Moving slowly. ▫ Leaving the Scene

17:38 • Bigg`s Orca past Campbell River, Discovery Passage. ?T075s? From photos submitted looks like T075s with many new scars on T75B1.- SM.

12:31 • 1 Humpback Whales heading South approaching Big Rock.

11:29 • 25 PWS Dolphins heading North in front of viewpoint in Powell River, Malaspina Strait.

23:28 • 50-75 PWS Dolphins foraging, in front of the ferry terminal in Powell River, Malaspina Strait.

13:56 • 3-4 PWS Dolphins in Blubber Bay on Texada Island, Malaspina Strait. Heading slowly towards Powell River.

13:12 • PWS Dolphins off Texada Island, Georgia Strait. First big group of PWS heading towards Vancouver Island and going to meet up with second group. Then turned again and heading toward Harwood Island.

12:03 • 100 PWS Dolphins heading South at Salmon Point off Saratoga Beach, Vancouver Island, Georgia Strait. Schooling herring. ▫ Leaving the Scene

REGIONAL & WEST COAST

B.C.’s most famous marine mammals could soon have a database dedicated to tracking their personal health.

Researchers around the Pacific Northwest collect swathes of data on the southern resident killer whales who call this part of the world home. Dr. Joe Gaydos, director of the SeaDoc Society in Eastsound, Wash., wants to consolidate that data into a single individualized database.

Gray whales typically arrive in early March and stay through the end of May, feeding on ghost shrimp along the sand and mud shores of Saratoga Passage between Camano and Whidbey Islands, and in Possession Sound. The annual spring visit of Gray whales provides an excellent opportunity to view whales from the shorelines of Island County or from the Mukilteo/Clinton ferries and whale watch companies……

Environmental groups are shocked to learn 15 California sea lions were euthanized by salmon farming company Cermaq Canada on the west coast of Vancouver Island between October and December. The numbers have been released by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which allows the practice under what’s called "Authorized Marine Mammal Control Activities."…

Unmanned, subsea glider is on a 23-day mission to learn more about the mysterious life of whales off the coast of Vancouver Island. Geographer David Duffus and his team at UVic’s Whale Research Lab launched a two-metre underwater drone off the western coast of Vancouver Island last week and sent it on a 23-day mission along the shelf break in Clayoquot Canyon to give scientists a rare glimpse into the behaviour and habitat of the region’s whales…..

In the Pacific Northwest, scientists are wondering why so many of one clan’s calves are turning out to be boys.

DFO spokesperson Paul Cottrell said the carcass was spotted earlier this week near Sooke Point but was only located today. He described the animal as a young female that was just over two metres in length….

CANADA

INTERNATIONAL

It looks like the lyre bird and its futuristic laser sounds might finally have a challenger: the dwarf minke whale. These lesser-known leviathans might not have vocal chords, but they somehow manage to produce a blaster-like “da-da-da-daaaang”, aptly known as the “Star Wars sound”.

Five years have passed, and yet even now, the nuclear disaster continues to fuel misguided panic-spirals in the media.

The most recent report, which has ricocheted around the web like a pinball this month, revolves around a string of "unexplained" whale deaths. The strandings certainly seem like cause for concern, but despite the kerfuffle, there’s something you need to know about radioactive whales in the Pacific Ocean: there aren’t any.

You will definitely wish you were on the boat with these folks in Baja when a couple of whales decided to let them join in.

Marine scientist devotes career to reversing trend of bycatch

Each time a commercial fisher casts a net, they run the risk of catching more than their intended targets. This is particularly true in small-scale and artisanal fisheries in Africa.

It’s not unheard of to find manta ray and sea turtles among the netted fish headed for market. Dolphins too. In fact, the bycatch issue is the most serious problem facing marine mammals today, according to FIU marine scientist Jeremy Kiszka.

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