‘This was VERY EXCITING because we didn’t expect it.’

Thomas Doniol-valcroze, a research biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, describes to the Canadian Press how he and his colleagues felt when they and members of the Canadian Coast Guard became the first people to spot endangered sei whales in Canadian waters in more than 50 years. Five of the creatures were spotted during a research trip off the coast of British Columbia in July, but news of the sighting wasn’t made public until late September.