A family of killer whales was spotted making a rare trip into waters off downtown Vancouver, likely on a hunt for harbour seals. The whales were filmed cruising past highrise towers, stunning ferry passengers and the captain who slowed the ferry to observe the rare sighting.
A family of killer whales has made a rare trip into waters off downtown Vancouver for what an expert says was likely a “grocery shopping” hunt for harbour seals .
“I’ve never been that close, even on like a whale watching tour,” said Hemsworth, adding that at one point, the whales passed within five feet of his little vessel, which was crossing from the West End in Vancouver to Kitsilano Beach.Andrew Trites, director of the University of British Columbia’s marine mammal research unit, has identified the whales as a family group of transient orcas consisting of a mother and her three offspring.
Trites said the well documented family has previously been seen by marine researchers from Alaska to the Strait of Juan de Fuca south of Vancouver Island. Trites said researchers are hearing more reports of killer whales being seen in places where they’ve never been seen before.Trites said the sighting was an indication of the recovered health of the Salish Sea, saying it was “in a state that we haven’t seen it for over a century.”“It’s a very healthy, vibrant system … we’ve seen humpback whales come back. We’ve seen our seal numbers recover and stabilize,” he said.
The species is designated as threatened, meaning they are likely to become endangered without interventions.
Killer Whales Vancouver Harbour Seals Whale Watching False Creek
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