The Department of Fisheries and Oceans are investigating an incident between a whale and a boater that happened in Baynes Sound this week. A whale incident took place on Baynes Sound this week.
The incident happened on Monday between 6-6:30 in the evening, with a man on an aluminum boat approaching a pod of orcas in the area.
Amateur photographer and one of the witnesses, TJ Campbell, says the man pulled into the middle of the pod.
“He starts taking selfies and whatever, and the whales start splashing their tails, trying to push him away because the baby was there,” said Campbell.
“And then he puts his rod out in the water and acts like he’s fishing. And then everybody yelling at him on the beach because there was a bunch of us watching it all.
“Then the whale’s kind of separated from him, and then he proceeded to start his motor back up and drive right into the middle of them again, and he just kept doing that like five to six times for a good 20 minutes.”
Multiple people reported the situation to the DFO, who say they and a fishery officer from the Whale Protection Unit are currently looking into the incident.
Jackie Hildering, whale researcher and education and communications lead for the Marine Education and Research Society says the main mistake some boaters make is not understanding that they have the responsibility to know what the law is.
“So, there is national law about what you can and cannot do around marine mammals and very explicitly for the area in which this happened, the distance is 400 metres away from orca”, said Hildering.
“Those laws exist because many marine mammals are protected under the Species At Risk Act, and not just the noise from vessels being magnified underwater layers on top of other stresses, but also just the presence of vessels are a problem.”
Along with keeping distance and staying away from marine mammals, Hildering said that boaters should bring in fishing gear, shut off the engine, and do not change direction.
She adds that in a similar incident, you should report everything to the Fisheries and Oceans Incident Reporting Line at 1-800-465-4336.
The department cannot comment further at this time.
