Strangers in a Strange Land - 3 unidentified Orcas spotted in Vancouver Harbour

[wildmanyeah]

Of course every operation is going to have naturalists on board. Some even have “dozens of hours” of experience! You wouldn’t take a fishing charter without a knowledgeable captain and crew, would you?

Unless you have a permit, no amount of onboard expertise - not even a halibut commissioner - allows a vessel to shirk the regs.

says they partnered with organizations like the Orca Behavior Institute, Cascadia Research, and the Orca Conservancy, allowing independent scientists to use their boats as observation platforms.

 

[adamcu280]

says they partnered with organizations like the Orca Behavior Institute, Cascadia Research, and the Orca Conservancy, allowing independent scientists to use their boats as observation platforms.

Yep, researchers often go on ww boats as platforms of opportunity and for outreach purposes, but ww boats are not operating under permit even if they have researchers on board.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Yep, researchers often go on ww boats as platforms of opportunity and for outreach purposes, but ww boats are not operating under permit even if they have researchers on board.

i suppose the flying white flag that says research vessel must be a AI deep fake

 

[adamcu280]

i suppose the flying white flag that says research vessel must be a AI deep fake

In US and Canadian waters the permit flag is a yellow triangle with the permit number displayed. The only white flag I know of is this one, which is not a permit flag. Is this what you’re referring to?

Be Whale Wise Flag

And look at that! I learned something new today. I’d never heard of the purple pennant before and certainly never seen one being flown by a ww boat.

Know before you go — Vessel flags | Pacific Region | Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Know before you go — Vessel flags

www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

 

[wildmanyeah]

I learned something new today

wax on wax off

 

[adamcu280]

Seems like you probably learned something about the various flags today too.

 

[trophywife]

Somehow misinformation gets out and is perpetuated. Hopefully I can help set the record straight.

WW boats are under the same rules as everyone else. They also operate under a microscope of govt observation and public opinion. Most ww companies in the Salish Sea are members of the Pacific Whale Watch Association. https://www.pacificwhalewatchassociation.com/regulations

The outcome of this case could have huge implications for the industry in BC.

Vancouver whale watching company charged with disturbing a marine mammal - BC | Globalnews.ca

A Vancouver whale watching company has been charged with disturbing a marine mammal under the federal Fisheries Act.

globalnews.ca

I spent a lot of time on the Soundwatch boat in the 90s and early 00s where we monitored vessel traffic and behavior around whales. By and large the biggest offenders were Joe Public who were often so obtuse they wouldn’t even slow down when running through a stopped fleet of brightly coloured ww boats. We’d stop them and hand out information and they’d say “I didn’t even notice…” or something like that. Ugh.

Due to the common and perpetuated misconceptions (as seen here in this thread) and high profile of their operations, every ww operator I know does their best to not break any rules. Nobody wants a lawsuit to shut down their business or the entire industry.

i hesitated with a hot reply as i figured others would chime in and "set the record straight"

companies absolutely use "scientific observation" as a weak excuse to gain closer access and to make money at the whales expense.

quoted from a friend on board a boat out of tofino " today we would like to welcome "blah blah marine biologist, who will be studying and making notes on whale behaviours. With their presence today we get to gain better access to the animals" insert 20th trip in june alone.

to make it clear i am totally against whale chasing.
friends dont let friends chase whales.

very interesting group that work out of bamfield, high powered zodiac, 4 persons on board. we call them the poop patrol. they do actual science on feeding habits near shore and offshore. legit in my eyes. not skirting for a company.

watching a pod 60nm out smashing a school of tuna was my ultimate orca experience. i wonder if they were srkw that only prefer red salmon over 20lbs?

 

[IronNoggin]

... every ww operator I know does their best to not break any rules.

And I have personally witnessed absolutely abhorrent intentional behavior from the same sector, obviously knowing they are indeed breaking the rules.

 

[adamcu280]

i hesitated with hot reply as i figured others would chime in and "set the record straight"

The best thing about not being an expert is appreciating that there’s always more to learn.

My experience on the water for the past 30 years with whales has been on boats like the one you describe out of Bamfield: Research boats under permit flying a yellow pennant. I've scooped plenty of poop, prey, eDNA samples, and collected plenty of biopsies. Seeing SRKW 60nm out in tuna water hunting tuna would be an unprecedented sighting for them; they're more coastal/shelf/colder water per sightings/acoustic data/satellite tag data. Also, if you read the SRKW prey paper I linked upthread you'll see tuna are absent from the known SRKW diet. I'd guess the orca you saw were some other ecotype; pictures would likely tell the tale. If you got any photos I'd love to see them! Sounds like an epic encounter.

Thanks to this thread I now know that my understanding of WW operating protocols in BC was out-of-date; I knew about yellow and white pennants because I've flown them but not about the purple pennant. I asked the PWWA what the purple pennant was all about and this is what they said:

The purple AV flag has been used by whale watchers operating in BC since 2019. It allows professional whale watch operators to continue viewing non-endangered orcas from 200 metres in exchange for not viewing Southern Residents. All other vessels without a flag must view all orcas from 400 metres under a temporary Transport Canada order. All PWWA companies operating in Canada use this flag, *but* the rules are about to change permanently to 1,000 metres for SRKW, 200 metres for all other orcas, rendering the flag obsolete. It will be phased out later this year.

And I have personally witnessed absolutely abhorrent intentional behavior from the same sector, obviously knowing they are indeed breaking the rules.

I'm sure you have! Just as I've seen fishers intentionally rampage through whales with complete disregard. Nobody's perfect and all user groups can strive to do better.

BTW, as a gentleman and a scholar, did you ever figure out the difference between what I typed and @pescador's mis-quote that got this ball rolling?