Boat Strike Blamed For This Orca’s Injury

Photo credit: VancouverAquarium

Researchers are saying a boat propeller strike is the likely cause of this orca’s horrific injury off the coast of northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

The whale has been identified as six-year-old A95 of the north resident population.

“The pattern of the wound looks like it was potentially caused by a boat propeller,” Meghan Moore, a research biologist at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre, told the Vancouver Sun.

“It’s a series of parallel cuts down the side of the body and couple of parallel cuts that trail up to the dorsal fin,” she said.

Officials from the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre and the U.S.-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration believe A95 had been injured on Saturday. They say the cut does not appear to be deep, giving them hope the whale will recover.

They’re observations where made from a drone hovering over the whale. They have not tried to intervene and give aid. Rather they will continue to track and monitor the whale’s condition.

Moore said strikes like these on orcas are very rare. She also stressed the importance for boaters to keep their distance from marine wildlife.

“But we do want to stress the Be Whale Wise guidelines and make sure when vessels are operating around whales and dolphins that they are cautious, slow and get no closer than 100 metres,” Moore said.

h/t Vancouver Sun