EncDate:06/02/24 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:13

ObservBegin:10:01 AM

ObservEnd:10:40 AM

Vessel:New Vessel

Staff:Dave Ellifrit, Michael Weiss

Pods:Bigg's killer whales

LocationDescr:Haro Strait

Start Latitude:48 29.65

Start Longitude:123 16.09

End Latitude:48 31.47

End Longitude:123 16.15

 

EncSummary:

Michael and Dave had decided to use the day of nice weather to do a survey around the San Juan Islands. They had heard second hand reports that J pod may have exited Puget Sound on 05-FEB-2024, and were hoping they might find the whales somewhere in southern Haro, or on the banks.

As they were gearing up, they heard reports of a single male killer whale seen from shore, moving into Haro Strait from Baynes Channel. They decided to head there first to see if they could ID the whale. As they motored, the report was updated to indicate it was actually two adult males.

The team got into the area where both Mark and George Hamilton indicated the whales might be. While getting some pointers from George over the phone, Michael saw a flash of sun reflecting off something in the distance, and was able to get a fix on the two whales through binoculars, heading north further inshore on the Canadian side of the strait.

Dave and Michael headed towards the whales, but they went down on another long dive. Next time the team saw them, they were 2/3 mile off shore of the team. Finally, on the next sequence, the whales surfaced just a few hundred yards to their south. The team was able to approach the whales and begin their encounter.

The team quickly IDed the two males as T60D and T60E, whales that had been well documented in previous encounters. The whales briefly milled, and then continued swimming quickly to the north. As the whales approached Zero Rock, they split up, with T60D going further east while T60E passed near Zero Rock. The team stayed with the whales until the research vessel Skana was able to get on scene, and then ended their encounter at 10:40.

After leaving the whales, the team went south, searching Middle and Hein Bank for signs of the residents. They didn't see any signs of more killer whales, however they did encounter a young Northern Fur Seal pup. The pup quickly swam away from the research vessel. These animals are typically found in pelagic waters off the coast, and are very uncommon in inland waters.

The next day, Mark also saw a fur seal during his survey for killer whales in Juan de Fuca, but a much larger individual, meaning there are multiple fur seals in the Salish Sea at the moment.