Category: Whales

By: Julie Merchel, Ocean Wise research assistant at the North Coast Cetacean Research Initiative Everybody wants to be a whale researcher! But what do whale researchers do when they’re out on the water? And what are they looking for when they find whales? Let me tell you! As a research assistant for Ocean Wise working … Continued

The B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network (BCCSN) is very excited to welcome BC Ferries to The Whale Trail!  Based in Seattle, WA, The Whale Trail‘s mission is to inspire appreciation and stewardship of whales and our marine environment by establishing a network of land-based viewing sites along the Pacific Coast from California to Alaska. The BCCSN … Continued

By: Aaron Purdy and Sarah Patton, at Ocean Wise’s Southern Vancouver Island Research Initiative We’ve crunched the numbers and the results are in! Since its inception in 1999, the B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network (BCCSN) has received over 120,000 verified citizen-provided cetacean reports from across British Columbia and more recently, from Washington State. In 2019, our … Continued

In 2019, citizen scientists reported more than 9,000 sightings through the Ocean Wise WhaleReport App contributing to important research and conservation efforts . The results are in. In 2019, 1,149 citizen scientists reported 9,797 whale, dolphin, porpoise and sea turtle sightings to Ocean Wise’s BC Cetacean Sightings Network (BCCSN) using the WhaleReport app. Among the … Continued

By: Lauren Dares, Coordinator of the B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network It has been an unusual and uncertain start to 2020. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that a year that started off with pro-democracy mass protests in Hong Kong; Australia declaring a state of disaster due to devastating bush fires; the impeachment acquittal of a U.S. … Continued

Motherhood is never easy, no matter which species you belong to. From broadcasting millions of eggs to nurturing a single calf to independence, successfully raising the next generation is one of life’s greatest challenges. As we show our appreciation for human mothers this Sunday, it’s interesting to learn about other dedicated mothers of the animal … Continued

Returning from the pilot season of its drone-based killer whale study along the central coast of British Columbia, Ocean Wise’s Marine Mammal Research team marked the sixth year of its photogrammetry project, documenting the relative health of B.C.’s killer whales. Established in 2014 as a collaboration between the Coastal Ocean Research Institute (an Ocean Wise … Continued

Vancouver, B.C. – For the second time in as many weeks, a group of Bigg’s, or transient killer whales, swam into the Vancouver Harbour yesterday to hunt seals. Bigg’s killer whales, unlike resident killer whales, feed on marine mammals like seals, sea lions, and other cetaceans like dolphins and whales. Government-sanctioned bounty hunting almost wiped … Continued