Latest news with #marine mammals
CTV News
a day ago
- Science
- CTV News
How Vancouver's urban orcas create connections and community among followers
VANCOUVER — Chatchawan Jaksuwong says he used to feel empty when he looked at the ocean. But after encounters with whales in the urban waters of Vancouver the photographer now feels a deep sense of connection, and he's found community with fellow enthusiasts. 'It's a switch from that feeling that I used to have before to, I don't know, let's say (a) warmer feeling,' says Jaksuwong, who moved to the city from Thailand about two years ago. He grows emotional as he describes the new-found sense of expectation when he gazes at the ocean. 'You know there's something there that makes you feel OK.' Jaksuwong is among a growing community of whale fans who track and share the surging number of sightings around Vancouver. Experts say the return of orcas, humpbacks and other marine mammals has been decades in the making, following the end of commercial whaling in British Columbia in the late 1960s along with the wind-down of the large-scale culling of seals and sea lions, the primary food for certain killer whales. Andrew Trites, who leads the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of B.C., says whales are the 'ambassadors of the Salish Sea,' and their recovery is an opportunity to boost public awareness and encourage protections for their habitat. 'People care about what they see, and unfortunately, they see very little below the water's surface to understand the richness of life and the need to maintain a healthy ocean,' says Trites, a professor in the school's zoology department. Jaksuwong once saw a whale from a distance during a tour off Vancouver Island. But he says he never expected to see whales from shore in the city. 'Now I'm obsessed with orcas,' he says, laughing. 'It's my thing now.' In one encounter last month, he raced to catch up with a pod of whales reported to be passing Stanley Park. He caught a bus, then ran to the middle of Lions Gate Bridge that overlooks the city's Burrard Inlet in hopes of an overhead shot of the whales using his telephoto lens. 'I've never run that fast before (with) the gear and stuff, right?' he recalled in an interview. 'If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. That's what I thought.' He was greeted with scenes worthy of a wildlife documentary — the whales were hunting a seal. Several of his photos show blood in the water roiling around the orcas. 'I've never seen this ever in my life. I feel so lucky, to be honest, to see that here, in nature,' he says. Jaksuwong was 'over the moon' to capture a photo of a young orca leaping out of the water, a moment he had been waiting for, he says. He shared the photos with the Facebook group 'Howe Sound and Sea to Sky wildlife sightings,' devoted to tracking and sharing encounters with orcas and other wildlife in the region. It has almost 27,000 members. That day, June 14, the orcas had a bigger audience than usual — a crowd was gathered at Locarno Beach to watch a triathlon, with the whales stealing attention from the finish of the men's event. Jaksuwong joined the Facebook group in May, when a grey whale known as Little Patch spent several weeks feeding in Vancouver's waters. Since then, he's become friends with fellow enthusiasts. 'We share our interests and we kind of like text each other, 'whale here, whale there,' and then we go see them together,' he says. Erin Gless, executive director of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, which represents 30 companies in both B.C. and Washington state, says there has been an 'exponential increase' in sightings around Vancouver in recent years. It has given whale-watching operators the opportunity to share stories about the whales as individuals, fostering a sense of personal connection, she says. 'We're going to tell you that this humpback is nicknamed Malachite, and he was born in 2021, and he goes to Mexico in the winter,' Gless says. 'That's what we're really trying to do is put a much more personalized spin on these animals, so that they're not anonymous.' Trites says he came to B.C. around 1980 and 'never thought' he'd see a humpback in local waters in his lifetime, after whaling decimated the population. 'It took the humpback whales a century to find their way back here again,' he says. There were no other marine mammals to be seen regularly either at Vancouver's Spanish Banks beach or the Stanley Park seawall, he says, after the culling of seals and sea lions in the name of safeguarding fisheries. The end of the cull around 1970 laid the groundwork for the long-term recovery of Bigg's killer whales, also known as transient orcas, which hunt mammals. 'So, we go basically from looking at what I would say was a relatively empty ocean in terms of marine mammals to one now that literally any day I can go and find a whale or a seal or a sea lion or a dolphin or a porpoise,' Trites says. The seal population has been stable for some years, kept in check by the orcas; but they have spread out to areas where people are more likely to see them, he adds. 'To me, it's a sign that if people just got out of the way, then Mother Nature can heal itself,' he says. There is an exception, however, in the story of recovery, Trites says. Bigg's orcas differ from the southern resident killer whales that frequent the Salish Sea in the summer months. That population is endangered and at risk of extinction due in large part to declining numbers of their preferred prey, chinook salmon. In Vancouver's busy waters, whales are also at risk of ship strikes, Trites says, while noise from vessels disrupts their ability to feed and communicate. Gless says people are lucky to be part of the story of the whales' return, but 'we need to keep it that way.' 'We can't be like, 'Oh, they're recovered enough, so now let's go ahead and build this new pipeline or increase shipping traffic.' Those are all things that still concern us.' Jaksuwong, meanwhile, continues to watch for whales, monitoring sightings and making his way to the seawall as often as he can, alerting others along the way. 'You see the look on their face when they see the orcas,' he says. 'It's rewarding for me too.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2025. Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
How Vancouver's urban orcas create connections and community among followers
VANCOUVER — Chatchawan Jaksuwong says he used to feel empty when he looked at the ocean. But after encounters with whales in the urban waters of Vancouver the photographer now feels a deep sense of connection, and he's found community with fellow enthusiasts. "It's a switch from that feeling that I used to have before to, I don't know, let's say (a) warmer feeling," says Jaksuwong, who moved to the city from Thailand about two years ago. He grows emotional as he describes the new-found sense of expectation when he gazes at the ocean. "You know there's something there that makes you feel OK." Jaksuwong is among a growing community of whale fans who track and share the surging number of sightings around Vancouver. Experts say the return of orcas, humpbacks and other marine mammals has been decades in the making, following the end of commercial whaling in British Columbia in the late 1960s along with the wind-down of the large-scale culling of seals and sea lions, the primary food for certain killer whales. Andrew Trites, who leads the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of B.C., says whales are the "ambassadors of the Salish Sea," and their recovery is an opportunity to boost public awareness and encourage protections for their habitat. "People care about what they see, and unfortunately, they see very little below the water's surface to understand the richness of life and the need to maintain a healthy ocean," says Trites, a professor in the school's zoology department. Jaksuwong once saw a whale from a distance during a tour off Vancouver Island. But he says he never expected to see whales from shore in the city. "Now I'm obsessed with orcas," he says, laughing. "It's my thing now." In one encounter last month, he raced to catch up with a pod of whales reported to be passing Stanley Park. He caught a bus, then ran to the middle of Lions Gate Bridge that overlooks the city's Burrard Inlet in hopes of an overhead shot of the whales using his telephoto lens. "I've never run that fast before (with) the gear and stuff, right?" he recalled in an interview. "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. That's what I thought." He was greeted with scenes worthy of a wildlife documentary — the whales were hunting a seal. Several of his photos show blood in the water roiling around the orcas. "I've never seen this ever in my life. I feel so lucky, to be honest, to see that here, in nature," he says. Jaksuwong was "over the moon" to capture a photo of a young orca leaping out of the water, a moment he had been waiting for, he says. He shared the photos with the Facebook group "Howe Sound and Sea to Sky wildlife sightings," devoted to tracking and sharing encounters with orcas and other wildlife in the region. It has almost 27,000 members. That day, June 14, the orcas had a bigger audience than usual — a crowd was gathered at Locarno Beach to watch a triathlon, with the whales stealing attention from the finish of the men's event. Jaksuwong joined the Facebook group in May, when a grey whale known as Little Patch spent several weeks feeding in Vancouver's waters. Since then, he's become friends with fellow enthusiasts. "We share our interests and we kind of like text each other, 'whale here, whale there,' and then we go see them together," he says. Erin Gless, executive director of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, which represents 30 companies in both B.C. and Washington state, says there has been an "exponential increase" in sightings around Vancouver in recent years. It has given whale-watching operators the opportunity to share stories about the whales as individuals, fostering a sense of personal connection, she says. "We're going to tell you that this humpback is nicknamed Malachite, and he was born in 2021, and he goes to Mexico in the winter," Gless says. "That's what we're really trying to do is put a much more personalized spin on these animals, so that they're not anonymous." Trites says he came to B.C. around 1980 and "never thought" he'd see a humpback in local waters in his lifetime, after whaling decimated the population. "It took the humpback whales a century to find their way back here again," he says. There were no other marine mammals to be seen regularly either at Vancouver's Spanish Banks beach or the Stanley Park seawall, he says, after the culling of seals and sea lions in the name of safeguarding fisheries. The end of the cull around 1970 laid the groundwork for the long-term recovery of Bigg's killer whales, also known as transient orcas, which hunt mammals. "So, we go basically from looking at what I would say was a relatively empty ocean in terms of marine mammals to one now that literally any day I can go and find a whale or a seal or a sea lion or a dolphin or a porpoise," Trites says. The seal population has been stable for some years, kept in check by the orcas; but they have spread out to areas where people are more likely to see them, he adds. "To me, it's a sign that if people just got out of the way, then Mother Nature can heal itself," he says. There is an exception, however, in the story of recovery, Trites says. Bigg's orcas differ from the southern resident killer whales that frequent the Salish Sea in the summer months. That population is endangered and at risk of extinction due in large part to declining numbers of their preferred prey, chinook salmon. In Vancouver's busy waters, whales are also at risk of ship strikes, Trites says, while noise from vessels disrupts their ability to feed and communicate. Gless says people are lucky to be part of the story of the whales' return, but "we need to keep it that way." "We can't be like, 'Oh, they're recovered enough, so now let's go ahead and build this new pipeline or increase shipping traffic.' Those are all things that still concern us." Jaksuwong, meanwhile, continues to watch for whales, monitoring sightings and making his way to the seawall as often as he can, alerting others along the way. "You see the look on their face when they see the orcas," he says. "It's rewarding for me too." This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2025. Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Protester dressed as 'tortured orca' chained to suitcases on Above Bar
Protesters have staged a demonstration outside the TUI store in Southampton in support of marine mammals and criticising 'notoriously cruel marine parks.' A campaigner from animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) stood outside the TUI store in Above Bar Street on Monday afternoon, chained to suitcases, representing a tortured orca, that will 'never get the chance to travel,' said protestors. It comes as the travel company continues to sell tickets to the likes of SeaWorld, a marine mammal park in Florida. More than 120 UK companies, announcing they've stopped selling tickets to SeaWorld and other attractions featuring captive whales and dolphins. Speaking to the Echo, PETA campaigner, Grace Galopin, said 'the message behind the protest was incredibly important'. READ MORE: PETA campaigner Josie Johnson, representing a tortured orca, outside the TUI store in Southampton (Image: Supplied) She said: 'It's World Orca Day, so we're here to tell TUI to drop marine parks and stop profiting from the abuse of marine mammals like orcas and dolphins. 'These poor animals are essentially imprisoned and forced to live in tiny tanks their whole life, they're put with incompatible mates, they're forced to perform tricks for tourists and their living conditions are just terrible. 'They should be out in the wild and free where they can display their own natural behaviour and not exploited for entertainment. A People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) campaigner in Southampton this afternoon representing a 'tortured orca' outside the TUI store on World Orca Day, as TUI continue to sell tickets to the likes of SeaWorld that keep whales and dolphins in captivity. @dailyecho — Matt Davey (@MattDaveyJourno) July 14, 2025 'We've had a lot of feedback and conversations from shoppers in the high street today and the majority tend to agree that there's no place for marine mammals in captivity, when they should be free and in the wild.' Elsewhere in Lymington over the weekend a PETA campaigner served 'locally caught tabbies,' 'kitten cakes' and 'fresh local Siamese,' at the Lymington Seafood Festival, challenging the belief that some species are superior to others and more deserving of respect and kindness. 'Crabs and other marine animals feel pain and terror just as cats and dogs do,' said PETA senior campaigns manager, Kate Werner. She added: 'PETA urges anyone horrified by the thought of tucking into a tabby to extend that compassion to all animals and please, go vegan.' PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that 'animals are not ours to eat,' opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
The Independent
11-06-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Humpback whales could be secretly trying to talk to humans, scientists say
Humpback whales have been documented for the first time creating large bubble rings in water during friendly interactions with humans, suggesting they could be trying to communicate with us. The whales are known to use bubbles to hunt prey and when competing to escort females. They don't just produce these rings but also manipulate them in a variety of ways, actively controlling their size and depth. A new study, published in Marine Mammal Science, hints that they could be trying to communicate with humans using the bubbles during friendly encounters. ' This important assumption is certainly supported by the independent evolution of curious behaviour in humpback whales,' said Laurance Doyle, an author of the study from SETI Institute. Researchers have previously documented the whales living in complex societies and using their ring bubbles to assist other species harassed by predators. The bubble rings are described by researchers as spinning, air-infused vortices that look like 'giant smoke rings' about a metre in diameter. The whales often exhibit inquisitive, friendly behaviour towards boats and human swimmers. "Now, akin to a candidate signal, we show they are blowing bubble rings in our direction in an apparent attempt to playfully interact, observe our response, and/or engage in some form of communication,' study co-author Fred Sharpe said. "We've now located a dozen whales from populations around the world, the majority of which have voluntarily approached boats and swimmers blowing bubble rings during these episodes of curious behaviour,' said Jodi Frediani, another author of the study, In the study, researchers analysed 12 humpback whale bubble ring production incidents, totalling 39 rings made by 11 individuals. They categorised the whales into known age classes: yearling; 4-6 years old subadult; and adult. In many of these instances, during ring release, the whales were motionless or slowly idling forward 'with blowholes held upright and the body mostly in the horizontal position'. 'None of the other ten episodes were associated with feeding behaviour nor were prey organisms noted within rings,' the researchers noted. They also confirmed that none of the observed whales expressed any aggressive behaviour towards a boat or a human swimmer. In a majority of the observed incidents the ring blowing whale was alone, suggesting that the intended recipient wasn't another whale. 'Ring generation during inquisitive encounters adds to the humpback whale's diverse interspecies behaviours,' the scientists wrote. The findings are also intriguing since researchers believe interacting with the humpbacks can be a proxy for communicating with aliens. Studying these whale interactions can offer valuable insights into non-human intelligence and potentially help refine methods for detecting extraterrestrial life, scientists say. 'More research is needed to systematically study bubble ring production and ascertain under what conditions bubble rings are consistently produced,' they said.
BBC News
29-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
RSPB Bempton Cliffs becomes first Shorewatch site in England
A nature reserve has become the first site in the UK to carry out "structured watches" to monitor marine mammals in the North Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire will have 28 volunteers looking for minke whales, dolphins and grey and harbour project, called Shorewatch, is a partnership between the RSPB and Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC).Katie Dyke, the Shorewatch co-ordinator, said: "The data being gathered here will help strengthen our understanding of how cetaceans use the English coastline and how best to safeguard them." She added: "The high cliffs give excellent visibility, and the volunteer team has been so committed."We're not only recording vital data but also inspiring people to care about marine life on their doorstep." Shorewatch was first launched across Scotland by the WDC in 2005 and RSPB Bempton Cliffs is the first location in England to join the use specialist marine binoculars to scan the sea for 10 minutes before they log their findings into a dedicated app. The data is then used by experts for national research and conservation Bempton Cliffs is home to about half a million seabirds including gannets, kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills. About 3,000 puffins also breed at the cliffs each O'Hara, the reserve manager, said: "Visitors travel from right across the UK and overseas to see seabirds in their thousands here, but they also have the chance to spot something spectacular out at sea too."We hope to become just as famous for sightings of whales, dolphins and porpoises." Analysis - Paul Murphy, Environment Correspondent If you've been lucky enough to witness the acrobatics of a dolphin pod or a whale engaged in a feeding frenzy, you'll understand why this project is so is perhaps no better place for a survey of this kind than the towering cliffs of offers a natural vantage point 300ft (90m) above the beach and a vast area of the North Sea is project, largely staffed by volunteers, is about much more than entertainment and are gathering hard data on the habits and movements of whales, dolphins and has rarely been more important to do North Sea is an increasingly busy place, hosting everything from industrial fishing to some of the biggest offshore wind turbines in the are keen to understand the impact human activity is having on such an important natural modern conservation, data is decades, Bempton's seabird population has been forensically some of those binoculars are turning away from the nests on the cliffs to scan the waves for flippers and fins. Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
