Whale-watching boat hits humpback
Tour vessel was following three other whales when a fourth ‘came out of nowhere’
VICTORIA — A whale-watching Zodiac boat collided with a humpback whale in a “freak accident” near Race Rocks this week, injuring two passengers and the vessel’s captain.
At the time of Monday’s collision, there was no sign of the whale — the captain was following another group of humpbacks about three nautical miles to the east — when “all of a sudden, boom, impact,” said operations manager Ben Duthie of Prince of Whales tours in Victoria.
“It came out of nowhere … the incident happened instantaneously.”
There was “no visible sign of damage” to the whale after it was struck by the bow of the boat — no blood or oil on the water — and the whale surfaced three times for short breaths before taking a deep dive, Duthie said.
Two passengers were taken to hospital. The captain suffered an injured ankle and nine of the 11 passengers aboard returned to Victoria “in good spirits.”
The collision occurred about 2:45 p.m. Monday about two nautical miles east of Race Rocks. The impact would have been considerable, given the vessel was travelling at an estimated 27 knots, although the speed has not been confirmed, Duthie said.
It’s the first time in 22 years of business that a Prince of Whales vessel has collided with a whale, he said. One of the company’s captains has identified 190 humpbacks and this particular whale was not known to him, he said.
Dr. Martin Haulena, staff veterinarian at the Vancouver Aquarium, said injuries to a humpback, such as a broken rib or bruised lung, might not be immediately evident, but most whales “probably” survive their encounters with vessels. It depends on the size and speed of the vessel and the size of the whale.
A newborn humpback weighs about a tonne and can grow to 40 tonnes and 18 metres. Because of their size, humpbacks cannot easily manoeuvre their bodies, Haulena said, especially if they are focused on scooping up food rather than on a boat.
Haulena said he does not doubt this is the first whale hit by Prince of Whales.
“Whale-watching crews tend to be very well versed in whale behaviour,” he said. “They’re the folks that closely follow the rules; it’s their livelihood. They’re under scrutiny. The last thing they want to do is to hurt a whale.”
Prince of Whales is providing information about the collision to the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and Transport Canada. The Pacific Whale Watch Association will investigate with a view to preventing another such incident, Duthie said.
Last summer, the Pacific Whale Watch Association, which represents three dozen or so whale-watching companies in B.C. and Washington state and works with whale researchers, reported that humpbacks have made a major comeback to an estimated 21,000 whales in the Pacific Northwest compared to just 1,600 when the whaling industry was closed in the mid-1960s.
The Harper government reclassified humpbacks from a threatened species to a species “of special concern” in 2014, when there were about three collisions a year with vessels of all kinds.