Friday Harbor, Washington: When I first started visiting the San Juan Islands in the early 1990s, the place was known for its whales—particularly its resident orcas, who numbered nearly 100 in those days. Occasionally minke whales were spotted. But humpbacks, which had once numbered in the hundreds in the Salish Sea, were not among the cetaceans who populated those waters.
That began to change in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, when humpbacks were spotted occasionally, and then semi-regularly. By the early 2010s, they had become common, especially in the summer. Nowadays—especially with the Southern Resident killer whales only making occasional appearances—they are among the most likely whales for visitors to the islands to encounter. This year they set a record for sightings.
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According to the Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA), humpback whales and mammal-eating Bigg’s killer whales have been the two most-sighted whale species in the Salish Sea this summer, with some 396 individual humpbacks photographed and identified in 2022. Altogether, over 800 humpbacks have been identified in these waters since the turn of the century.
Humpbacks are by far the largest of all these species, reaching over 55 feet in length and weighing up to 44 tons (88,000 pounds). They come to the Salish to feed, primarily on the abundant baitfish that flourish there. Some whales will spend all summer here gorging on the plentiful Pacific herring.
The PWWA’s whale watchers, who are recording most of the sightings and sharing the data with whale scientists, also photographed a record-breaking 34 mothers with calves this summer—an increase from 2021’s then-record total of 21. Most of these whales arrived in the Salish Sea after giving birth in the waters off Hawaii, Mexico, and Central America and traveling the immense distance to the Pacific Northwest.
“20 years ago, it was rare to see humpbacks or Bigg’s killer whales in the Salish Sea. Now, we see them almost every day,” said Erin Gless, the executive director of the PWWA, in their report.
Before the turn of the 20th century, historical records indicate that humpback whales were even more common in the Salish Sea. However, whaling operations set up shop in the region in 1866 and went to work harvesting them in large numbers, their blubber boiled down for whale oil. In one year alone—1907—the Pacific Whaling Company, using industrial techniques such as pneumatic harpoons, almost entirely extirpated the entire population. Afterwards, they were rarely if ever seen.
Humpback whaling was banned in 1966, and the whales were among the first species listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1973. Their recovery in the following decades—the whales were recently downlisted as “threatened”—is one of the law’s signal success stories.
Tasli Shaw, project lead for Humpback Whales of the Salish Sea, told CBC News that it’s a common misconception that the humpbacks are only passing through the Salish Sea. In fact, the Salish Sea humpbacks often stay for months at a time, revisiting feeding areas that have bountiful fish. Many of them are return visitors and seem to populate the quiet winter seas in years when they don’t make the migration south.
"They come here very specifically to feed, and they're very experienced and very skilled at what they do," she said. "They know the best places to come and find prey and how best to capture it. So we actually see the same individuals year after year."
Shaw and her organization have produced a complete catalog of the Salish Sea humpbacks that can be purchased online.
Here is a gallery of some of my own photos of humpbacks taken here. Enjoy.
On the first episode of season two of The Downballot, we're talking with Sara Garcia, the strategy and outreach manager at Crooked Media—home of Pod Save America—about everything her organization does to mobilize progressives and kick GOP ass. Sara tells us how Crooked arose to fill a void in the media landscape, how it not only informs listeners but also gives them tools to take action, and some of her favorite shows that she loves to recommend to folks.
Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also discuss the Republican shitshow currently unfolding in Congress—and starkly different outcomes in two state legislatures that just elected new House speakers via bipartisan coalitions; the landslide win for the good guys in a special election primary in Virginia; why George Santos faces serious legal trouble that will very likely end with his resignation; and the massive pushback from progressive groups and labor unions against Kathy Hochul's conservative pick to be New York's top judge.
