Aquagreen

Headed out aboard the BC Tika yesterday, the fastest whale watching vessel on the West Coast! With reports of whales in Active Pass we caught up with them off the south end of Salt Spring Island. There were five transients, one being a young calf. The whales were cruising at 7 knots heading south, the baby would come up first from a long dive, otherwise following right alongside its mother. Another boater reported a lone male killer whale off Trial Island as we watched. It was a beautiful calm sunny day on the water as we left the group at 17:00 near Sidney, BC. Morin et al (2010) discovered this type of killer whale separated from other types 700,000 years ago and should be recognized as a distinct species (Riesch et al 2012). The name Bigg’s would be chosen in honor of Dr. Michael Bigg (1939 – 1990) for his pioneering killer whale photo-identification research in the 1970s.