Enc Date: 02/12/19

EncSeq: 1

Enc: 98

Observ Begin: 10:00 AM

Observ End: 11:59 AM

Vessel: Mike 1

Staff: Mark Malleson

Other Observers: Joe Zelwietro

Pods: Transients

Location Descr: Discovery Island

Start Latitude: 48 24.8

Start Longitude: 123 14.0

End Latitude: 48 23.7

End Longitude: 123 10.3

 

Enc Summary:

At ~0900, Mark spotted three or four killer whales from Gonzales lookout within a mile south of Clover Point heading east for the south end of Trial Island. From the fin shapes of the small group, he saw his impression was that they were Bigg's. He immediately alerted Gord Rowles to have him keep track of them and swiftly left the lookout to head for town and mobilize Mike 1 and contacted Joe to meet him at the dock ASAP.
Mike 1 departed Victoria harbour at 0940 and headed east towards Sea Bird Point on Discovery Island as Gord had last seen the group disappear out of his view between Trial Island and Discovery Island. He guessed they were Southern Residents as he saw a large group he estimated to be close to 20 individuals with at least two bulls. As Joe and Mark crossed the Oak Bay Flats, they spotted the large group spread out traveling northeast. Mark got out the Swarovskis to confirm ecotype and still guessed Bigg's, which was confirmed when they simultaneously spotted the unmistakable leucistic T046B1B along with the rest of the T046Bs. They started the encounter at precisely 1000 ~0.5 miles south of Discovery Island and were able to confirm all of the T036s, T037, the T046Bs, the T123s, and the two CAs from the day before, CA040 and CA137, were present. They could see another eastbound group slightly south of them, which Joe guessed was likely the T035As and T038As and intended to get to them once they finished the encounter with the large group.
At 1033 the T036As, along with T037, came across a lone seal at 48 25.1/123 11.5 and started to hunt it. The T036Bs were first to get in on the fun, the T046Bs came in from the south, the T123s turned back from the north to join in and eventually CA040, and CA137 completed the group. It seemed that there was only one seal involved in this gathering, and after ~30 minutes, the prey sharing began, and it wasn't for close to another 30 minutes before the group started traveling eastward. At 1159 Mark and Joe ended the encounter and went looking for the group that was to the south of the others when they first arrived. They were near Hein Bank scanning when Joe spotted Jeff Friedman on J1 westbound near Salmon Bank. He was on his way to look for the humpbacks that had been off Victoria for the last few weeks, so he was thrilled to hear that Mike 1 had just departed a large group of Bigg's. After several minutes of scanning Mark and Joe decided to swing southwest before turning west back towards Victoria and returned to the harbour at ~1430. At 1529 Mark received a report from Jeff that he had stumbled into the T035As and the T038As entering Cattle Pass on a northbound track as he was headed home to Friday Harbor.