Description It was early Friday morning, the waters were choppy in Whale Channel as we travelled north to Money Point, our day's destination to work on a storm damaged hydrophone station. We were almost there, just halfway across the mouth of Verney Passage, when Hermann yelled 'WHALE!!!'. I lifted my ski goggles, which were covered in sea spray, to see the telltale mist above the unmistakable dorsal fin of a male orca. Splashing in the distance followed, and a bigger group of Orcas revealed themselves with small explosions of mist from their blows. As we detoured into the picturesque channel shrouded with steep-walled hanging valleys and snow capped peaks, it became apparent that these were Transients, about 8, travelling quickly down the north shoreline of the channel. Travelling down the center of the channel angling towards the main group was T162, the big male we first spotted, who has a distinguishing cut out of the base of his dorsal fin. While we were taking ID photos and soaking in the grace and mystery of these beings, it became apparent that this wasn't the only group of orcas in the passage. More blows on the other side of the channel! As we slowly made our way across the channel jumping from group to group trying to get ID shots, Hermann estimated that there were over 20 whales spread across the channel! Among them, T162, T54, T58, and possibly T59. It is so rare to observe that many transients travelling together, we were truly lucky to have been there to witness it. What could be the reason for such a gathering of transients? Could they have been searching for a large group of dolphins? Do they come together like this more often than we think? Whatever the reason for such a large group of transients, prey populations must be healthy and abundant enough to support such behaviour. Over the past 2 weeks transients have been dominating the hydrophone activity, as well as sitings. Just before dinner on Saturday evening the T69's swam right by the house! Luckily, we sp
Janie Wray And Hermann Meuter, Great Bear Rainforest Member Since May 2008 Artist Statement We built Cetacealab in 2001 and formed the North Coast Cetacean Society, a charitable organization dedicated to the research and protection of whales in BC coastal waters.
We began our research into the behavior of whales in the early 1990s. This was during our time at Orcalab, a land-based whale research station on Hanson Island. With time we realized that most of the research being done on cetacean populations was concentrated in the southern waters of British Columbia. We decided to take the knowledge we had gained and travel north, where known humpback whale and orca activity exists, but with little research being done. Our first destination was Hartley Bay. Here we were to meet with the Hereditary Chief, Johnny Clifton, and ask for permission to build a whale research station within Gitga'at territory. To our amazement and respect, within just weeks of meeting, this permission was granted.
All the proceeds generated from the sale of our photographs is directed to support and maintain our research here in the remote outer great bear rainforest.