EncDate:05/07/24 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:65

ObservBegin:11:39 AM

ObservEnd:01:10 PM

Vessel:Mike 1

Staff:Dave Ellifrit, Mark Malleson

Other Observers:Joe Zelwietro

Pods:Bigg's killer whales

LocationDescr:San Simon Point

Start Latitude:48 23.12

Start Longitude:124 07.01

End Latitude:48 24.80

End Longitude:124 13.34

 

EncSummary:

Mark, Joe and Dave set out from Victoria for the Center for Whale Research’s annual survey of the west coast just after 1000. Day one was planned only as a transit to Bamfield to get set up, so they were pleased to get a mid-morning report of westbound killer whales nearing Sheringham Point, right on the way!
The team slowed Mike 1 offshore of Jordan River at 1139 and began the first encounter of the week-long survey with four spread killer whales. The first two they documented were T117B and her yearling, T117B1. Nearer to shore, but still over a mile south of the Jordan River outflow, was a large female presumed to be T172. In recent years, T117B – and lately her new little one – has primarily been observed with the T030Bs, but was instead observed the night prior alongside her elder brother T117A and his recent travel partner, T172, in Haro Strait. Sure enough, the third whale was quickly confirmed to be T172. She was initially travelling slightly ahead of the T117Bs, but angled offshore to meet them as they closed the gap. All three then angled offshore, toward Clallam Bay or Sekiu, at which point the guys decided to slowly move inshore, hoping to catch a glimpse of T117A as he made his way out to the others.  
Finding the big bull proved though difficult, as intermittent scans while the T117Bs and T172 were beneath yielded nothing. He eventually appeared nearly a mile northeast of the trio, also beginning to angle out toward the Olympic Coast. The crew on Mike 1 collected several ID shots as he turned offshore, and watched him aim for the others as they ended the encounter and continued their westward travels.
Note: These four whales were observed again the following day by commercial whale-watchers near Victoria, making their three day presence more than any of these individuals were documented in the area in all of 2023 (twice each). These typically rare animals have also been observed in the Salish Sea this year already, in winter and early spring; we are interested to see if this trend continues.