Observation: Two juvenile humpback whales were observed in early August 2016 in Coal Harbour, Quatsino Sound, Northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Later, around Aug 30, one mortality was observed in the Quatsino Narrows. The cause of death was not determined. No professional assessment was conducted. The whale was towed to a nearby strand and decomposed over winter. The bones are still there, near Apple Bay. -James Redford, Lands and Resources Manager, Quatsino First Nation.
LEO BC Coordinator Comment: Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) have increased considerably in British Columbia this century (Figure 2). The distribution of humpback whale sightings from the BC Cetacean Sightings Network is shown in Figure 3. - Tom Okey, Ocean Integrity Research and the University of Victoria.
Comment by Wendy Szaniszlo: The death could be from one of a number of reasons. Humpbacks are recovering and their numbers are increasing so many more individuals are being seen in near-shore areas in BC. If more humpbacks are using nearshore areas where humans are more likely to be there is a greater potential for humpbacks to be hit be vessels, disturbed, entangled in fishing gear, etc. There were several large whales which were found dead in AK last year and domoic acid was considered to be a cause, but I don't think this was determined. It may be simply that it was not a healthy individual. Last year we had a grey whale and minke strand near Ucluelet and although no cause of death could be determined, having these species wash up dead is not unheard of. With no context and no professional assessment done of the carcass it's hard to comment as it would all be just a guess. Where IDs taken to confirm the dead whale was one of the two HWs observed previously? - Wendy Szaniszlo, Marine Mammal Biologist, Research Associate, Vancouver Aquarium
Resources:
Humpback Whale by DFO.
Humpback Whale by Wikipedia
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Figure 1. Humpback whales in Coal Harbour, Quatsino Sound, Vancouver Island, BC (Photo by James Redford).
Figure 2. Increases in Humpback Whales in Juan de Fuca and Haro Straits, 1997-2014 (Figure by Mark Malleson).
Figure 3. Humpback whale encounters (circles) from the BC Cetacean Sightings Network.
