A Cumberland family who went out on their boat hoping to spot a whale off Vancouver Island this week got a lot more than they bargained for. A humpback whale beamed at the boat and stayed within feet of the family boat for more than an hour. About the size of a school bus, the humpback swam down both sides of the family’s 19-foot boat, twisting and flapping its massive tail and front fins, often seeming to “shake us off,” Aleks Mounts said. , who filmed the encounter and posted it on his YouTube channel. “He just didn’t want to leave,” said Alex Bowman, Mounts’ ex-wife and mother of their two sons, ages 9 and 13. “It looked like he was giving us a lift. Mounts said it was a warm and calm day on the water Tuesday northeast of Campbell River when he spotted the whale about 100 yards away. “I immediately killed the engine because I wanted to respect the whale rules,” he said. But the humpback dived and surfaced about a minute later just below their boat. He thought the whale would move on, but it stayed. The family was initially “terrified” of the giant creature, which could have knocked the boat out of the water, Mounts said. He was reluctant to restart the engine for fear of the propeller injuring the humpback. But the meeting seemed to turn amicable, rather quickly. The whale swam under the boat and along both sides, then spun around and slapped its tail and flippers within inches of the boat. He would often surface and spray the family from his hole. “I can taste it … his breath isn’t bad,” Mounts said during filming. He said the whale only made contact with the boat in one spot with its barrel-coated fin, leaving a few scratches and a slightly bent rail. “He waved at us and then threw it hard into the water. He did these yoga moves. It was crazy, like none of us have ever seen,” Mounts said. “I can’t believe how kind he is and how aware he is.” Bowman said: “We felt vulnerable on the boat, but he was a gentle giant who wanted to hang out with us. He seemed to be more curious about us than we were about him.’ The whale was later confirmed to be a young male named Neowise. Humpbacks are identified by the patterns on the underside of their necks, which are as unique as human fingerprints. Andrew Trites, director of marine mammal research at the University of British Columbia, said humpback boat encounters are not common. But as the species continues a major comeback from the whale slaughter of the early 1900s — and extinction in the Salish Sea — he expects more close encounters could occur. The whale may have been attracted to the boat’s depth finder or fish finder, which uses sound waves to determine water depth, Trites said. The sound waves are similar to the calls whales use to communicate with each other, he said, and scientists are studying a possible connection between depth sounders and whales. “It’s a high-frequency sound, a narrow beam that doesn’t hurt the whales, but they’re very vocal and they like to communicate,” Trites said. Although the humps in the waters of BC are here to feed, the young whale could understand the depth sounder as “a love song” and could “get pleasure as part of a social interaction” by listening to the sound waves, Trites said. “Otherwise, a boat is an inanimate object,” he said. Mounts said the depth finder was on when he saw the whale and turned off when he turned off the boat’s engine. The Trites are concerned that the increased encounters could pose “significant risks” to boaters. Male humpbacks typically weigh more than 10,000 pounds and are not often in control of their massive bodies and “batteries.” “They’re huge, but they’re pretty clumsy,” Trites said, adding that boats could be damaged and occupants put in great danger if a jib or fin were to crash. He advises boaters to turn off depth sounders when they see whales and, if they are too close, try to move away to keep a safe distance. Humpback populations in the North Pacific are increasing at a remarkable rate. Naturalists on whale-watching ships reported 21 new calves last summer and fall — the largest nursery batch on record and nearly double the previous high of 11 found the previous year, according to the Center for Whale Research in Washington. Populations declined worldwide by up to 95% until a final moratorium on harvesting the species for meat and oil was introduced in 1985 by the International Whaling Commission. Humpbacks have been protected in Canada since 1966. Before then, according to a recent Ocean Watch report, at least 5,600 humpbacks were harvested from whaling stations along the B.C. coast. starting in 1908, decimating the population. The Salish Sea is one of the last historic areas humpbacks have “reclaimed” since the whaling days, starting about 20 years ago with a single whale. Others, and their calves, have followed. Ocean Watch said the inland waters of the Strait of Georgia extending south to Puget Sound are likely where “a small and possibly permanent population of humpbacks disappeared by 1909.” As humpbacks begin to repopulate a historic summer feeding area in the Salish Sea, Trites said, it’s important that people develop a respectful relationship about how they interact with the species. [email protected]
To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]