The Call of the Whales

Photo: Caitlyn Vernon

Last month I traveled around the islands and through the fjords of the Great Bear Rainforest, along the route that supertankers would have to navigate, if the Enbridge Northern Gateway project gets approved. I was there with a group of campaigners from other organizations who are working to keep our coast oil-free. We took our raingear and our gumboots, our hopes and fears, our critical minds and creative ideas, and spent 5 days together on a couple of boats exploring the north coast.

We were there to connect with the place we are working to protect, to meet with the Gitga’at people of Hartley Bay who stand to lose so much, to be inspired by the wild coast and to strategize about how to make sure it stays that way.

I already wrote about the magic of salmon swimming through phosphorescence. There are a couple other highlights from the trip that I’d like to share.

Guardian Watchmen

Photo: Jacob Scherr

Over the 5 days on the water, including a visit to Bishop Bay/Monkey Beach Conservancy (one of the new protected areas on the coast), not once did we see a B.C. Parks Ranger, a Conservation Officer or a Fisheries Officer. Provincial and federal enforcement agencies were noteworthy for their absence. We did, however, run into a patrol of Gitga’at Guardian Watchmen who were out monitoring their territory.

Sierra Club BC has supported the Coastal Guardian Watchmen Network for years, and I often get asked to explain the role of Guardian Watchmen on the coast. I talk about how they monitor resource activity, cultural sites and ecosystem health, but it is so much more powerful to hear from the people who are doing the work themselves.

One of the Gitga’at Guardian Watchmen took a few moments out from his patrol to meet with the group of campaigners. He talked about the whales they had been observing and how the data they were collecting would be important in the fight against Enbridge. He passed around the field binder for the Regional Monitoring Strategy and showed how they collect data. He’d already written down the boats we were traveling on, as a way to record the numbers and types of boats visiting their territory. There was pride in his voice as he explained the importance of collecting this data and having a Gitga’at presence on the water, before jumping into his boat and heading back out on patrol. For me, it was a solid reminder of why we support the coastal First Nations in their work as the eyes and ears of their territories.

Whale Songs

Photo: Jack Dykinga iLCP

Another highlight of the trip was a visit to Cetecea Lab, a whale research station located at a place aptly known as Whale Point, on the bottom tip of Gil Island. For ten years this has been a hub of whale research activity, documenting the visits and behaviours of the humpback, orca and fin whales who call this coast home. Check out their photo gallery for some beautiful images of whales.

Most amazing was the opportunity to hear recordings of humpback whales, singing in the fjords of the Great Bear Rainforest. Yes, really. They sing here. The songs of humpbacks are known for their haunting beauty, but I had always learnt that humpbacks only sing during the breeding season, when they migrate to southern warmer waters. Indeed, this was conventional knowledge until the researchers at Cetecea Lab recorded humpback songs in northern waters, just a few years ago. Today there is a series of hydrophones (underwater microphones) throughout the area that are monitored around the clock. Sometimes guttural, sometimes melodic, and we don’t know why they sing here, but they do. Have a listen.

Later on the trip, watching again and again the grace of whale tails emerging from the water as humpbacks dive down to feed, I thought about the whale songs and how the engine noise of supertankers would interfere. All the more reason to oppose the proposed Enbridge pipeline and tankers.

Thank you to the owners of the Suncrest and the Avoceta for so generously providing their boats and time in support of our work. The trip included volunteers and staff with Douglas Channel Watch, Friends of Wild Salmon, T. Buck Suzuki Foundation, Dogwood Initiative, Pembina Institute, ForestEthics, Living Oceans Society, Northwest Institute, Headwaters Initiative, the Natural Resources Defence Council, West Coast Environmental Law and Sierra Club BC. We are working together to keep our coast oil-free.