Multiple whale watching boat crews reported what some are calling an “epic tussle” between a group of transient orcas and two humpback whales and a calf on Sunday off Vancouver Island.
“It was a great interaction,” said Capt, Mark Malleson of Prince of Whales Whale Watching, who also is a researcher for Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island. “I’m not sure if the killer whales ever thought they were going to be able to take one of these humpbacks out, but it appears they certainly enjoyed getting them worked up.”
Humpbacks have been making a comeback in the area in recent years. Their numbers have rebounded after generations of commercial whale hunting and they are becoming more common in Puget Sound.
As the populations of most North Pacific whales increases, the challenge of there being enough food for them is the source of ongoing research.
A juvenile humpback was found stranded on a West Seattle beach on Sunday. The whale was later pronounced dead. NOAA Fisheries researchers called the animal very thin.
Back in May, a whale-on-whale battle between transient whales and 40-ton gray whales played out not far offshore from Everett.
