Free B.C. course aims to protect whales by better educating boaters

A British Columbia research and conservation group has launched a new free course it hopes will reduce deadly conflicts between boaters and whales.

The Marine Education and Research Society (MERS) says it created the Whalesafe Boating program because of the growing risk to whales and other marine mammals from boat strikes, fishing gear entanglements and stress from people getting too close.

“Even with all our knowledge about even who individual whales are, we have had close calls with humpback whales — we see every time we’re on the water, close calls involving boaters,” said Jaicke Hildering, spokesperson and whale researcher with MERS.

“We see the (propeller) scars, we see the close calls, and the kind of human injury that is also involved here is that somebody is paralyzed on our coast, somebody has had to get reconstructive facial surgery as a result of a collision, kayaks have been flipped.“

The group says there are a number of points of conflict between whales and boaters that can be addressed through better education.

Whales are often oblivious to both boats and fishing gear, raising the prospect of collisions or entanglements that can lead to painful injury or even death.

Whales often travel in predictable patterns and can surface suddenly after long dives, or can be resting or nursing just below the surface and out of sight, it adds.

It’s critical education that MERS says is falling through the cracks because federal agencies are too siloed, with Transport Canada focused on boater safety and Fisheries and Oceans Canada focused on species at risk.

“We’ve done the work, 15 years of education, but also doing surveys of boaters, where we know that the average boater wants to do the right thing, but is having problems accessing the information to close the gap between boating knowledge and safety of marine mammals and boaters,” Hildering said.

Boaters should never position their vessel in the path of a whale or try to strategize how to make it come closer to them. They should also keep an eye out for signs a whale is around, such as splashes, blows and flocks of birds.

Boaters should also stay on the offshore side of whales if the animals are travelling close to the shore.

And if a whale surfaces near you while boating, you should stop immediately, put the engine in neutral, and move away slowly once the whale is more than 400 metres away.

Anyone can sign up for the free course at the Marine Education and Research Society website.

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