Enc Date: 29/04/20

Enc Seq: 1

Enc#: 24

Observ Begin: 08:53 AM

Observ End: 09:34 AM

Vessel: Mike 1

Staff: Mark Malleson

Pods: Transients

Location Descr: Gordon Head

Start Latitude: 48 28.8

Start Longitude: 123 14.5

End Latitude: 48 31.2

End Longitude: 123 15.7

​

Enc Summary:

At 0758 Mark received a report of a pair of north bound bulls, spotted from Ten Mile Point by George Hamilton, a mile north west of Seabird Point, Discovery Island.
Mark left Victoria harbour on Mike 1 at 0820 and made his way to Haro Strait. He spotted the pair surface together within a couple of minutes of exiting Baynes Channel offshore of Gordon Head and started the encounter at 0853.
He immediately recognized T124C as the smaller bull and upon getting a closer look at them could see that his sidekick was T097, a bull that he had seen last December 16 without T093 who was previously inseparable with.
For the next 40 minutes T097 and T124C traveled north west towards Zero Rock with a consistent travel speed of 4.5 knots coming up for 4 breaths every 3 to 4 minutes. They seperated for a few minutes a little over 2 hundred metres and then resumed their original tight travel formation breathing in almost unison. There was no sign of any predation during this short encounter as Mark departed at 0853 and returned to Victoria harbour.

Photos taken under Federal Permits

NMFS PERMIT: 21238/ DFO SARA 388