Killer Whale Sightings Off East Coast of Nova Scotia

August 10, 2008

Two killer whales were spotted by a Canadian fishing charter captain and his nine customers about 12.4 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia on Thursday, August 7th.

An article by Chris Lambie in the Chronicle Herald Metro, a Halifax, Nova Scotia newspaper, reported that the rare glimpse of two killer whales, a male and a female, close to the Nova Scotian shore was seen by Eastern Passage fishing charter captain, Art Gaetan of Blue Shark Fishing Charters.

The article reports that Mr. Gaetan said that he hasn’t seen killer whales out there in 28 years.

“We tracked them for about 45 minutes to an hour,” he said. “It was pretty cool.” The orcas were swimming near two fin whales, Mr. Gaetan said.

Lindy Weilgart, a whale researcher associated with Dalhousie University, told reporter Chris Lambie that it’s unusual to see killer whales that close to shore. “I would put it at uncommon but not unheard of,” said Ms. Weilgart, noting orcas are more commonly found on the Scotian Shelf. It’s also unusual to see just two killer whales, she said. “They would generally be in groups.”

There are resident, transient and offshore killer whales, said the marine biologist.

“They certainly wouldn’t be resident like the inshore ones off the northwest coast of the U.S., but they could either be offshore or they could be transients,” Ms. Weilgart said. “Neither of those is particularly well studied. They would probably range quite widely.”

The whales might be attracted to large concentrations of seals on Sable Island, and the killer whales would typically be hunting other marine mammals, she said.

“They would probably be in search of food, be it seal or herring,” said Andrew Newbould, a marine mammal adviser with the Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “While not a common occurrence, sightings of killer whales off Nova Scotia are generally reported every few years,” he said. “The species distribution spans the globe, including the majority of the North Atlantic Ocean, so it’s hard to say where they’re coming from or where they’re going.”

Here is a link to the Chris Lambie’s report:

Article by Chris Lambie in the Chronicle Herald Metro.