2024 - There She Blows! Whales in British Columbia
'There she blows!" Beth bellowed in the middle of the Strait of Georgia. This is time timeless call that signals the sighting of a whale. "Where away" I hollered back. "To port, windward side", was the response. We slowed to idle and watched a small group of Humpback Whales swim past us, headed south. Our encounter occurred during our passage from Silva Bay on Gabriola Island to Vancouver. Since 2004, the Humpback Whale population has grown in BC. In 2004, only 42 individual whales were identified. By 2019, the population had grown to 426, and in 2023 the observed population had grown to nearly 800 ,a dramatic improvement. The whales were commercially hunted from the 1800's until 1965 in the Pacific Northwest. During this period of time it is estimated that 28,000 whales were harvested. Humpback spend from spring to fall feeding in the waters of the Pacific Northwest. In the fall they migrate to their breeding groun...