A whale-watching company says one of its vessels made contact with a humpback whale that “suddenly and unexpectedly surfaced” in its path while transiting near Vancouver on Thursday afternoon.
A statement from the company, Prince of Whales, said its vessel undertook a “decisive” manoeuvre to avoid the animal. It was able to stop almost immediately, but “there was minimal contact with the whale” during the manoeuvre.
“We were not actively viewing the whale, so this was a surprise encounter,” reads the statement.
It went on to say several passengers aboard the vessel fell as it tried to stop suddenly and “a handful were injured.”
B.C. Emergency Health Services said paramedics provided emergency medical treatment to four patients on Granville Island. They were taken to hospital in stable condition.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) said it received a report from a whale-watching vessel of a collision with a humpback whale in Howe Sound on Thursday.
The whale was seen surfacing three times following the collision, the DFO said in a statement.
It went on to say they have not confirmed the identity of the whale and the company is fully co-operating.
The incident comes after a ship owned by a high-speed, passenger-only ferry service between Vancouver and Nanaimo struck a humpback whale near Vancouver in English Bay earlier this month, according to DFO.
A humpback calf with a deep gash near its dorsal fin was later identified as the whale that was struck.
Last month, researchers found a dead humpback near a site where it was reportedly hit by a B.C. Ferries vessel off B.C.’s North Coast.
DFO said humpback whales are particularly vulnerable to ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.
“The probability and lethality of a ship strike depends on factors such as whale density, ship traffic, as well as the size and speed of boats,” said the DFO statement.
In recent years the number of humpbacks in the southern Salish Sea has been highest in fall, with an estimated 416 individual whales using Canadian waters between Vancouver and the western end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, it continued.
“In October, the southern Strait of Georgia off Vancouver is one of the areas of highest whale density,” it said. “This is also an area with multiple ferry routes and important whale-watching activity.”
DFO says it has alerted its enforcement officers and the Pacific Whale Watch Association to be on the lookout for injured animals as poor weather and high winds are expected over the weekend.
