Legacy

July 9th, 2019 Species: Juvenile Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Location: Strait of Juan de Fuca, British Columbia Juvenile Humpback whale breaches while in transit with its mother in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Humpbacks were extirpated from the Salish Sea due to commercial whaling in the 20th century. In the late 90's, they began to return from their winter breeding grounds of Hawaii and Mexico in very small numbers. Up until 2010, seeing a humpback while on the water was a rare occurrence. Thanks to the Humpback whale moratorium of 1966, the species has rebounded dramatically, and the Salish Sea now has a returning population of over 400 animals. This individual animal must have breached ~50 times before finally tiring out.