Whale watchers and nature lovers of the island, this is for you!
The Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) announced that the first humpback calf of the 2024 whale watching season has arrived in the Salish Sea.
The calf, said to be three to four-months old, and its mother, BCX1460 “Black Pearl,” were first spotted in Haro Strait on Thursday, April 18th by PWWA member company Eagle Wing Tours of Victoria.
Since then, the pair has been spotted several times!
“It’s always fun to see which mom and calf will make it back first,” said PWWA executive director Erin Gless.
“Black Pearl tends to spend her summers near north Vancouver Island. This year we were lucky enough to spot her in the Salish Sea.”
Although the humpback calves aren’t born in BC waters, they travel from their birthplace near Hawaii, Mexico and Central America to cooler feeding grounds, such as the Salish Sea!
Black Pearl is well known to migrate to the Hawaiian Islands in the winter—there are quite a few photographs of her off the coast of Maui.
According to the PWWA, she has had at least three previous calves! Including a male born in 2022, nicknamed “Kraken.”
Did you know that industrialized whaling had removed humpback whales from the Salish Sea by the early 1900s?
PWWA highlighted that more than 30,000 humpbacks were killed in the North Pacific during this era, and scientists estimate as few as 1,000 remained by the time BC’s last whaling station, Coal Harbour on north Vancouver Island, closed in 1967.
“For decades after whaling stopped, there were virtually no sightings in inland BC waters,” Gless said.
“But that all changed when Big Mama made her first appearance in 1997. She’s been returning to the Salish Sea ever since, and now hundreds of humpback whales visit each year.”
Big Mama is a local celebrity and has been reportedly spotted by the PWWA this year as well, along with a handful of others sighted by whale watchers in the past week.
This beloved humpback has given birth to seven calves, including her first, “Divot” born in 2003, and most recently, “Moresby” was born in 2022.
She is also a part of the population that travels to the Hawaiian Islands during the winter months!
Over the coming weeks, many more humpback whales will be returning to the area to feed on small fish and crustaceans throughout the fall!
 announced that the first humpback calf of the 2024 whale watching season has arrived in the Salish Sea. ){kind=link}