Marine Mammals
An impressive 27 different types of whales, dolphins, porpoises, and pinnipeds (seals and sea lions) can be found in the waters of the North Pacific Coast.
Cetaceans in the region include blue, fin, minke, sei, sperm, humpback, grey, Baird's beaked, Cuvier's beaked, killer and false killer whales; Pacific white-sided, Risso's and northern right whale dolphins; Dall 's and harbour porpoise. Marine planning for the North Pacific Coast must include provisions for the continued recovery of whale populations, ensuring that migration routes, feeding and breeding grounds maintain their integrity.
One of the best-known giants of the sea is the humpback whale. Humpbacks can grow to be as big as a school bus and weigh up to 45 tonnes.
Whaling in the early 1900s depleted humpback populations by about 90%, leaving only about 1,500 individuals in the entire North Pacific. Humpbacks are slowly rebounding, with current population estimates for British Columbia hovering around 2,000 (about 18,000 in the North Pacific).
These whales can be seen most months of the year in the productive waters of Canada's North Pacific Coast. To learn more about the local populations of humpback and minke whales, check out the Marine Education and Research Society website.
These waters are also home to three different types of killer whale (orca), which are not so much whales as large dolphins. The northern population of 'resident' killer whales (about 260 individuals) live along Canada's North Pacific Coast year-round and feed on fish, particularly salmon. The southern waters of this region (Johnstone Strait and Queen Charlotte Strait) were designated 'Critical Habitat' for this group of residents in 2009. See the map of critical habitat for resident killer whales in BC.
Killer whales are individually identifiable by the shape and size of their dorsal fin and the white 'saddle' patch directly behind it, as well as any scars they may have sustained in their life. See the Photo Identification Catalouge for Northern Resident and Transient Killer Whales. About 250 'transient' killer whales, which eat seals and other marine mammals, have been identified in the waters of Canada's North Pacific Coast. Over 250 of the 'offshore' killer whales have also been identified in the area. Little is known about this mysterious group, except that they travel in large groups and appear to eat fish and possibly small sharks.
For more information on killer whales and other whales on the coast, visit the BC Cetacean Sightings Network website.
Many pinnipeds (literally "feather feet") also live in Canada's North Pacific Coastal waters. These include 'true' seals such as the northern elephant seal and harbour seal, and eared seals like the northern fur seal and the Steller and California sea lions. Sea otters, which were hunted to extinction in these waters in the early 20th century, have been reintroduced, and are now making a comeback along the B.C. central coast.
Human activities can affect marine mammals in a variety of different ways. Large vessels occasionally strike whales, especially in areas where both ships and whales abound. Fin and Humpback whales are particularly at risk in areas of Hecate Strait, Queen Charlotte Strait and the surrounding narrow passages. Disturbance by smaller vessels can also cause harm, and a set of guidelines have been developed for boating around marine mammals. To learn more about human impacts on whales, please visit the CETUS Research and Conservation website.
Underwater noise pollution from shipping can interfere with the whales' and dolphins' ability to communicate and feed, particularly in the case of killer whales who rely on sounds they produce to locate and capture salmon. Other forms of pollution, such as chemicals and plastic debris that end up in the ocean, can be eaten by the marine mammals or their prey with toxic effects.
To learn more about these threats to marine mammals, visit the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Ocean Initiative websites.
To see maps of where many of these marine mammals can be found in B.C. waters, visit the Mammal pages of the Marine Atlas of Pacific Canada.
Sources:
Kathy Heise, John Ford, and Peter Olesiuk. (2007) Ecosystem Overview: Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area - Appendix J: Marine Mammals and Turtles.
John Ford, Robin Abernethy, Alana Phillips, John Calambokidis, Graeme Ellis and Linda Nichol. (2010) Distribution and Relative Abundance of Cetaceans in Western Canadian Waters From Ship Surveys, 2002-2008. Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 2913.
Graeme Ellis, Jared Towers and John Ford. (2011) Northern Resident Killer Whales of British Columbia: Photo-identification Catalogue and Population Status to 2010. Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 2942.
Rob Williams and Patrick O’Hara. (2009) Modelling ship strike risk to fin, humpback and killer whales in British Columbia, Canada. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 11:1-8.
