A whale, never before seen in B.C. waters, washed up dead on northern Vancouver Island.
A man walking his dog on Wednesday morning discovered the dead whale in Port McNeill at the end of the bay in the estuary.
“This is the only Bryde’s whale that has ever been seen in British Columbia waters, with all the collective knowledge through First Nations, DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans),” said Jackie Hildering, whale researcher and director of education and communications with the Marine Education and Research Society.
She said they first thought it was a minke whale but then a member of the team noticed this whale did not have the diagnostic minke mittens, or white bands on its flippers that distinguishes a minke whale from others.
Hildering said Bryde’s whales, a member of the baleen whale family, which includes blue whales and humpback whales, have rostral ridges and are known for having three parallel ridges on their upper jaw.
A close-up view of the rostral ridges on the Bryde’s whale’s head.
Marine Education & Research Society
“A Bryde’s whale has never been seen in B.C. waters,” she added. “The closest has been in Puget Sound. We know of two cases in 2010 of two whales, one dead already, one that ended up dying.
“They are typically known only up to Los Angeles.”
Paul Cottrell, the marine mammal coordinator with the DFO, said the whale is young and just over seven metres in length.
He said while this is a sad event, it gives them a chance to study these whales and learn more about them.
Lots of experts came together on Friday to share their knowledge and honour the animal.
Hildering said the male’s death is still a mystery but there’s nothing to suggest an obvious vessel strike.
DFO officials performed a necropsy on the whale on Friday and more tests will be undertaken in labs and samples will be sent around the world, Cottrell said.
Following the necropsy and a blessing ceremony that was held on Thursday, the Namgis Nation is gifting the skeleton to the Whale Interpretive Centre, which is being rebuilt in Telegraph Cove after a devastating fire on Dec. 31.
“So the cascade of how this whale’s death may count, its skeleton is going all the way to, and will be of huge significance, to the rebuild of the Whale Interpretive Centre,” Hildering said.