The coast of Vancouver Island is home to many whale species, but on Sunday afternoon, a researcher noticed an unfamiliar whale.
On June 14 at approximately 3:30 p.m., Tory Bright, who works at Bere Point Research, said he was at his research station along the Queen Charlotte Strait when he saw a blowhole and decided to get a closer look.
Bright said he immediately knew that this was not a humpback whale and it was a right whale.
“This is the last thing that I would’ve ever imagined that I would see,” he said.
Bright said right whales have only been spotted six times in the past 75 years in B.C. and this is the “rarest thing ever.”
In the 1800s, the whale’s name derived from the hunters calling it the “right whale to kill.” The whale was slower than most and when hunters would harpoon them, the whale would float to the surface, making it more accessible for the hunters to recover it.
“It was never certain if this species would actually go extinct or recover,” said Jared Towers from the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Cetacean Research Program. “It’s a good sign”
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Towers said he was told about Bright’s sighting and travelled to the region to see and photograph the whale for himself.
He said the young whale brings a sense of hope for the species as it’s an indicator for the continuation of reproduction.
Andrew Jones from Coastal Rainforest Safaris said he was not expecting to see the whale and it was an amazing sight.
Jones said he has hope for right whales after witnessing the healthy juvenile.
“Brings a little bit of attention to the whales and how rare they are, but also the dangers that they face,” he said.
This sighting is “great for Canadians and British Columbians to know that we’ve seen one, they’re still out there and we can hope that they’ll continue to be out there,” said Bright.
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