EncDate:22/05/24 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:42

ObservBegin:12:31 PM

ObservEnd:01:17 PM

Vessel:KCB III

Staff:Dave Ellifrit, Michael Weiss, Katie Jones

Pods:Bigg's killer whales

LocationDescr:eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca

Start Latitude:48 20.18

Start Longitude:123 08.82

End Latitude:48 19.77

End Longitude:123 11.85

 

EncSummary:

The day started out with reports of southern residents heading south off of LandBank. The team met at Snug Harbor and left in the boat at 1050. We headed down the westside until we got offshore of False Bay and then stopped to take a scan. We didn’t see anything so we kept going south to Eagle Point. We still were not seeing anything to the south of us so we then headed out toward Hein Bank. We passed Hein Bank on the east side and continued south a little further before stopping to take another scan. Still nothing. J pod (probably) must have headed west quicker than we thought. We decided to head west and were heading that direction for maybe ten minutes when Flora spotted a killer whale to the northwest of us. The encounter started at 1231 about five miles southeast of Seabird Point.

It was a group of four whales that we quickly realized were not southern residents but a group of Bigg’s known as the T73As. This group is not overly common in the area although they have made their appearances over the years. T73A was in Dave’s very first ever Bigg’s encounter in May of 1990. The T73As were in a tight group heading slowly west into a bit of tidal lump. They loosened up a little with two whales traveling slightly behind the other two briefly before becoming a mostly tight group again. The T73As were being cooperative but the tidal lump made photography difficult. We ended the encounter at 1317 about a mile and a half west of where we started. While we with the T73As, J pod was found heading west on Constance Bank. Given the westerly seas, we decided to not try to catch up to them. The T100s were near Discovery Island and on our way home so we decided to stop there next instead.

Photos taken under Federal Permits

NMFS PERMIT: 27038/DFO SARA 388