It was an exciting day yesterday for the directors of Cetus Society! We received a phone call just before lunch time from Annely Greene with DFO Fisheries Management –  Marine Mammal Response Program.  She let us know that a report had come in about a possible porpoise or dolphin which had been spotted and appeared to be stranded on a beach out near Patricia Bay. We gathered up our responding kit and set out to investigate. When we arrived on-scene we could tell that it was indeed a harbor porpoise that appeared to be stranded on a small reef a little ways out from shore. With chest waders on we were able to wade across to the reef and have a look at the porpoise. Since the tide was coming in quickly and we were risking getting stranded on the reef with the little guy we very gently worked to move him in to the main beach. We spent the afternoon ensuring that his blowhole remained above the water, his skin was kept wet and that he was as comfortable as possible given the difficult circumstances. As we did this we coordinated with staff veterinarian Dr. Martin Haulena and the rest of his team at the Vancouver Aquarium  as well as Annely Greene and Lisa Spaven from DFO Science – Cetacean Research Program, to arrange for a pick up at the BC Ferries terminal. Neil Dangerfield and Steve Romaine from the Institute of Ocean Sciences  responded and helped us load the porpoise into their truck for transport to the ferries and the Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Team met us at the terminal for a quick transfer.

We are happy to report that the porpoise (determined to be a young adult male) is still hanging in there and under the care of the incredible Marine Mammal Rescue Team! We collectively have nicknamed this little guy “Levi” in honour of the Leviathan Milk Stout that was recently released by Phillip’s Brewery  in Victoria in Support of Cetus Society and our programs.

We have to say a huge thank you to everyone who was involved in this rescue effort yesterday. It could not have run this smoothly without the incredible work of all those involved. We would also like to say a special thank you to locals Marilyn Harris and Sophie Keim who made themselves available for several hours yesterday to help with documenting the rescue as well as providing blankets and towels to help with transport, and some much needed sustenance for our rescue team!

Kind of gives our “pennies for a porpoise” campaign a fresh new meaning doesn’t it!

See CTV Coverage of the rescue here.

To make a Donation to Cetus Society click here and don’t forget to sign up for our mailing list here!

To report a dead, injured or distressed marine mammal please call the BC Marine Mammal Response Network at 1-800-465-4336

We are seeking to fill a two month position (July and August) for our Robson Bight Marine Warden Program. We also have several internship opportunities available running from May to October 2013 and we are always looking for keen and dedicated volunteers.  For more information contact us at info@cetussociety.org

Please feel free to pass this information along to anyone who you think may be interested and stay tuned for our next Cetus blog post coming soon!

Don’t forget to sign up here for our mailing list!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! We at Cetus are hoping that you will all take a moment today to recognize the incredible gifts our oceans provide for us and that you will, in turn, show your love for our oceans, today and every day. Here are 3 simple ways…

1)      Say NO to plastic!!

• Plastic pollution is a HUGE problem that affects every aspect of the marine environment and all the animals that live there. If we all make a conscious effort to reduce our daily plastic consumption we can all help to make our oceans healthier.
• Check out this awesome blog for some thought-provoking stories about plastic consumption and ideas on how we can reduce this!

2)      Make a donation on behalf of your loved ones!

• Make a donation to our marine conservation programs in someone’s name today and we will send you and them a special Valentine’s e-card. Trust me you want to see this!
• Just follow this link to make a donation and then send us an e-mail at info@cetussociety.org with your recipients name and e-mail address.

3)      Help raise awareness about ocean issues

• Share this blog post on facebook, on twitter, through e-mail, however you communicate, to remind your friends and family how special our oceans are. Be sure to sign up for our mailing list so that you don’t miss any information about the exciting ocean conservation projects we have on the go!

Thanks for the continued support! Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at Cetus Society!

So what do we do with all these extra pennies lying around and weighing down our pockets?

We at Cetus would be more than happy to take them off your hands! We have started a “Pennies for a Porpoise” drive to collect the coins and put them to good use protecting marine mammals on our coast.

If you have pennies that you wish to donate to us, please drop them off in one of our “Pennies for a Porpoise” jars around town, swing by our office to add them to our ever-growing pile, or contact us at info@cetussociety.org to arrange for a pick up. We will also be enlisting the help of wonderful volunteers to get the pennies rolled up and ready to take to the bank. If you wish to be involved in that let us know!

And don’t forget to sign up for our mailing list here so you don’t miss any exciting Cetus news!

Fun Facts about the Canadian Penny

The Canadian penny was first minted in 1858 which means it has been a part of our currency for 155 years! There are currently about 35 billion pennies in circulation in Canada which adds up to a whopping 82 million kilograms of steel, nickel and copper.

The Bank of Canada’s Currency Museum has elected to commemorate the coin by creating a mosaic depicting the penny. To do this they have used nearly 16 000 of the coins and the result is stunning.

The federal government decided last year that they would begin to phase out our lowest denomination coin and they claim it will save tax payers approximately $11 million annually.

With all these pennies, it’s likely to be a little while before they disappear from our currency completely, but considering that it costs approximately 1.6 cents to create a penny, the powers that be decided it no longer makes sense for our country to continue producing them.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below!

Thanks to our many dedicated supporters who voted every day and helped us to spread the campaign far and wide! We are thrilled and humbled to be the ones to have a special beer made just for us.

On January 21^st Phillip’s Brewery officially released ‘Leviathan Milk Stout’ with full proceeds going to our marine mammal conservation programs.

Established in 2005, Cetus is a marine conservation society which operates in and around the waters off Vancouver Island, BC. These waters are home to a wide variety of majestic marine mammal species including humpback whales, grey whales, killer whales, pacific white-sided dolphins, dall’s porpoises, Steller sea lions and many more. People come from around the world to see these beautiful marine mammals that call British Columbia home but unfortunately they are still at risk from human impacts. For instance there are fewer than 90 individual killer whales left in the Southern resident population (frequently seen around Victoria and Northern Washington).

“Our mission is to reduce disturbances to these threatened and endangered populations and also to promote respect for our marine environment though education, outreach and direct monitoring activities. We do this through a variety of programs, such as the following.”

Straitwatch is an on-the-water monitoring and education program which helps to minimize disturbances to killer whales and other marine mammals. Research has demonstrated that killer whales show avoidance behaviour in the presence of vessels, and that whale responses to vessel presence and/or sound may include ceasing of feeding, resting and social interaction. Because of these impacts, federal guidelines known as the ‘Be Whale Wise’ marine mammal viewing guidelines have been developed to minimize disturbances while still allowing boaters to view these majestic animals in their natural environment.  The Straitwatch program helps to ensure that these guidelines are understood and adhered to.

The Robson Bight Marine Warden Program operates in Johnstone Strait, near an area which has been designated as an ecological reserve for the protection of critical habitat of the Northern resident killer whales. This is a unique area where the whales often come to rub their bodies along the underwater beaches. In this area our marine wardens monitor vessels and marine mammal populations, and educate boaters and kayakers about the reserve and their impacts around it.

We also conduct community outreach, school and youth programs and have recently begun work on a derelict fishing gear removal program to address the very serious issue of ‘ghost gear’ on our coast.

All proceeds from the ‘Leviathan Milk Stout’ will help fund these programs that protect species at risk in our area and inspire others in our community and around the world to do the same.

Sign up to receive up to date information about whales in British Columbia!

Not long after they moved in Tommy approached us with an idea. He is a talented hair artist and he wished to offer his creativity to the heads of Cetus Staff or interns. While some of us were hesitant at best about the idea of Tommy shaving our heads and adding whale art, our wonderful, up for anything intern, Scott Boyce jumped right on board! Scott thought that he could use this opportunity as a fundraising platform to raise money for our Straitwatch program. And so a plan was formed. Scott set out to collect pledges for his new ‘do and Tommy got to work planning his masterpiece.

I am pleased to announce that after raising over $100 in pledges Scott took the plunge and received his new hair style yesterday morning. It took nearly two hours to complete but I have to say the end result is incredible!

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to Tommy and Vic City Barbers for this super fun opportunity and of course to Scott for his bravery and hard work collecting pledges. Scott is going to continue to collect pledges and the more he collects, the longer he will keep the hairstyle. I can only imagine the exposure it will give Cetus to have our intern out and about with whales all over his head!

If you are interested in making a pledge, please click here and write “for Scott’s hair” in the comments.

For those of you in the Victoria area, I highly recommend you visit Vic City Barbers for your next cut. Whether you are looking for just a regular trim or something much more adventurous, you will not be disappointed.

Thanks to 23 dedicated whale watchers/researchers, young naturalists, Cetus Society and B.C. Parks the second Robson Bight (Michael Bigg) Ecological Reserve/Boat Bay Conservancy beach cleanup was a huge success!

The team set out at 8am from Telegraph Cove on the Gikumi (thanks to Jim and Mary Borrowman) and headed to the Bight for low tide. We split into 4 groups: Team Chum, Team Nudribranchs, Team Nahwitti and Team Gumboot Chitons. Using Jim’s skiff we tackled 5 beaches as well as the beautiful Tsitika estuary within the Robson Bight Reserve. We refueled with a delicious lunch as we made our way to the Boat Bay/Qwiquallaaq conservancy. We only had time to scour one large beach here, as it can be very tricky working with tide & boats. This beach was the worst, we noticed this last year as well. It acts as a catch for the huge south easterlies that hit Johnstone Strait during the winter months and collects a ton of garbage! We collected as much as we could handle. On our journey home we saw many northern resident orca including the A30s, I15s, A8s and A36s, they were all foraging for chum salmon and had a lot to say to each other….thanks to Nicole Koshure for the audio clip!

It’s kind of ironic to call the beach clean up a success when the goal is to collect as much garbage as possible. Getting the garbage off the beaches helps to reduce threats to the marine life that inhabit our local waters. Marine debris can pose a threat to birds, fish and mammals that accidentally consume garbage, as they may think it is food or may become entangled in the ropes & lines. In fact BC elephant seals have been recovered with Styrofoam in their stomachs and a grey whale recently recovered in Washington State had gallons of marine debris in its stomach, including a golf ball, plastic bags and sweat pants.

We left feeling both satisfied and frustrated as we had cleaned a few of our local Northern Vancouver Island beaches, yet we had only scratched the surface. At least we were able to clear the beaches of debris within the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve (http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/eco_reserve/robsonb_er.html), which was established in 1982 to protect northern resident killer whale critical habitat.

Audio Clip – A30s,I15s,A8s,A36s

Please remember it is important to clean up the garbage on any beach so next time your strolling along the beach pick up a piece or two of garbage, or maybe plan a beach clean up in your neighbourhood (Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup: http://www.shorelinecleanup.ca/), every little bit help!

Thanks to the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup we had some very handy data sheets to record what we found.
Here’s our list:
- TONS of Styrofoam
- Rope, rope & more rope!!!
- An entire fishing net
- Plastic water bottles
- Tires
- Plastic crates
- Plastic buckets
- PVC pipe
- Plastic bags
- Cigarettes/filters
- Tobacco wrappers
- Metal
- Buoys/floats
- Oil bottles
- Clothing
- Shoes, Crocs
- Food wrappers
- Shotgun shells
- Straws
- Carb trap
- Pallets
- Toilet seat
- Propane bottle
- Tampon applicators
- Plastic, plastic and more plastic….little bits of plastic everywhere: bottle lids, lighters, kids toys

Many thanks to all the volunteers that helped us today, we could NOT have done it without you!!!
Orcella Expeditions:
- Jim Borrowman
- Mary Borrowman
- 2 Germans volunteers
Pacific Orca Society/Orcalab:
- Helena Symonds
- Leah Robinson
Cetus Research & Conservation Society:
- Megan Baker
- Leah Thorpe
- Nic Dedeluk
- Nicole Koshure
- Marie Fournier
- Jake Etzhorn
- Derek Harnanansingh
Young Naturalists Club of BC, Northern Vancouver Island :
- Emma Mitchell
- Cameron Grant
- Paige Aoki
- Liam Aoki
- Rebecca Griffith
Marine Education and Research Society (MERS):
- Jackie Hildering
Namgis First Nation :
- Ernest Alfred
BC Parks Staff :
- Jim Spowart
- Jessie Paloposki
Stubbs Island Whale Watching:
- Roger McDonell
Kingfisher Wilderness Adventures :
- Andrew Jones

Shorelines Under Threat – Tsunami Debris
Our next cleanup may be a challenging one due to the devastating tsunami that struck Japan in the spring of 2011, which swept up to 25 million tons of debris into our oceans. Officials estimate that as much as 1.5 million tons of it could wash up on our BC shores.
Tsunami debris has already started to land along the west coast of North America. Although it is unknown exactly when, where, and how much debris will wash up over time, it carries with it potentially devastating effects, such as damaging delicate aquatic ecosystems, introducing invasive species, and polluting our waterways. To learn more, visit the BC Tsunami Debris website:http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/tsunami-debris/index.htm.

Additional Information
Algalita Marine Research Foundation: www.algalita.org/index.php
5 Gyres: Understanding Plastic Marine Pollution: http://5gyres.org/
Global Garbage: http://www.globalgarbage.org/blog/
The Canadian Plastics Industry Association: http://www.plastics.ca/EnvironmentalSustainability/AnitLitter/index.php
Electronic Product Stewardship Canada: http://www.epsc.ca/
Ocean Conservancy: Start a Sea Change: http://www.oceanconservancy.org/who-we-are/
Marine Debris in BC Coastal Waters, Raincoast Conservation Foundation: http://www.raincoast.org/publications/scientific-papers/marine-papers/marine-debris/

On Monday we had the shift changes, which means it was the end of Kayla’s volunteer week. She ended with making us Pancakes. We had 4 people and one dog go out, and 2 extraordinary females came back in return; Erin and Kat; who I hadn’t met yet and which means Mark was the only man in camp.

Because this was week two and I had only 1 or 2 boat shifts the week before, my body was starting to ache, especially my knees, Germany you did not prepare me well enough! The lack of sleep was probably not helping, I was finally not caring about all the small sounds around my tent anymore, and the local Humpback whales get the great idea to wake me up in the morning. First one was Tuesday 3:45am and although I was slightly awake already, snoozing wondering what I was hearing, starting to realize I was hearing blows, when I set up strait in my bed, because, I am not kidding, this whale sounded like he was next to my tent and possibly needed help getting back in the water. Off course it only sounded like that, he was in reality about 50-75m away from my tent, happily, safely cruising the coastline, yes in the water. The sound of that blow was just so loud and impressive at that time in the morning, with no other noises around that it literally scared me out of my tent, I watched it go by in the faint light only being able to see the blows where after I tried to snooze for a little bit longer. The same happened to me on Thursday morning at around 4:30am, although these blows were further and I think it was a mum calf, because of the size differences between blows.

Ok fair enough I can’t really complain about Humpback whales going past my tent in the morning and although the first one made me sit up strait because it was so loud, I haven’t felt primal fear ever before in my life until Thursday night.

Thursday night at 1 am I woke up because I heard something I had never heard before, at least not in the wild and for real. It took me a while to realize what it was, I was listening to wolves howl. Just when I started to think that it was pretty cool to actually hear wolves in the wild, another individual joined in. This individual however was on the other side of my tent, not to far away and made me feel like I was between him and the rest of his pack. Next you know, movie scenes flashing trough my head, breathing is getting weird, you realize your alone on the other side of camp, and that you don’t have a clue what to do in a situation when things go wrong. Yes; I also had thoughts that tried to be wise, ‘it is summer there is enough food around for them’, ‘why would they come to camp?’, ‘why would they announce themselves before attack? etc. etc .etc. All very wise, all very true, all not helpful at that point in time. I finally fell a sleep clutching my knife and curled up in the middle of my tent about 3 hours later. And when my alarm went off and I found myself in my tent like that, in the fetal position, I felt kind of … how will I put it … silly. To make me feel better nature send me a Minke Whale right underneath the cliff and I have to say, who would not feel better after that?

During the first half of the week we did have the A30’s come in and briefly saw the two males and at least 1 female and maybe a calf, but it was in the evening and they were far away, next to this we just heard about them on the radio.

During the second half of the week we started to notice that the Brothers found some others to hang out with, three generations of A11. Sunday we all had the chance to really enjoy them. They’d gone east the day before through the bight, and today they decided to go west, and Nahwitti (A56, 22 years old and A11 youngest) and her kid (only 2 years of age) decided to do this really close to the cliff while grandma Yakat (A11, 54 years of age) kept a close watch a little bit further from shore and the two brothers were like male guards patrolling in front of the females. The brothers were only seen without their aunt this year and it was nice to see they found some companionship. After being really close to the cliff they decided to cross over into the bight and were milling around the area for a bit. Later we saw Nahwitti and her kid together with Kaikash while travelling east towards CP, Yakut was close enough to keep an eye on her daughter but slightly behind, while the older big bro Plumper was steadily heading towards CP a couple of 100 meters in front of them. At CP the males went in the direction of Swanson and the female kept cruising along Vancouver Island, only to return to the bit later that day and all hang out at the beaches. It was a great day and together with the wolf experience which I started to appreciate more and more it was a greet week!!

Rachel and Intern Scott

Our day usually begins hoping that the keys to the dockbox will work, then struggling to attach the EPIRB. I’m pretty sure we’ve all had a day where it took us over 5 minutes to convince it to stay. After we’ve completed our checklist, and figured out where the whales are, I have to figure out where on earth that is and how to get there. I’m still learning the area, but I think I’m getting the hang of it. As we leave the marina, I invariably spot a seal peeking up at us from the water and I get excited. We don’t have seals where I’m from, and it’s a thrill to see a face staring at you from the water, and everyone chuckles at my excitement. As we travel across Haro Strait, dodging driftwood and bull kelp, we cross the US/Canada border and we always joke about having our passports with us just in case the crew gets stuck in the USA again.

Most of the time we know where the whales are and head to the scene, but every once in a while our southern residents take a short vacation and no one knows where they are. On those days, we drift, keep our eyes out for other cetaceans, and enjoy the rare calm. On these days, when we’re not kept constantly busy by vessel counts, incident scans, and vessel contacts, lunch is a common conversation topic, and of course, our stomachs start grumbling not long after. Some of us have developed a system… to eat one lunch item per hour on the top of the hour. I gotta say, it’s an effective system.

Other days, our lunches aren’t eaten so leisurely. It’s always a long, busy day when we are with killer whales, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. The last day I was with the whales, it seemed like everyone and their mother was out there with us. Within 5 minutes of coming on scene we found ourselves having to talk to a private boater who drove over the whales. Our day really didn’t slow down from there, and I ended up having to eat my lunch while on a plane going to prevent an incident, a source of amusement for one of our new volunteers. Other sources of amusement are the whale watchers themselves. Sometimes we can’t help but break out into laughter when they start telling jokes, or when Soundwatch simply calls “poop!!” for Moja over the radio.

In the afternoon, no matter what the never-changing weather report states for Juan de Fuca, a westerly usually picks up. Several times the weather had gotten bad enough that we had to make a safety call and go home, and other times we decided to stay on scene. Regardless of what the seas do, this is usually the time of day where the boat crew gets to laugh at me once more. Living in Florida, I got used to 40+ degree heat in August, something that you don’t normally get up here and definitely not out on the water. Well, while some of the crew are taking off sweaters and extra layers in the afternoon, this girl with her extremely thin blood is always starting to add some. When that wind picks up, I trade my cap for a beanie (toque) and break out my scarf and gloves. Yeah, yeah, yeah, laugh it up fuzzball; I get bundled up and most of the times I stay warm enough. But there’s always something to do that takes my mind off it, even if it’s keeping an eye out for sticks and driftwood on our way back to Canada.

It’s always a shame when it’s time to leave the whales, but we take solace in the fact that we will always go back out there. And we will go back soon and will be clearing a travel corridor for the whales, counting the minutes to lunch time, bundling up, educating boaters in the area, and being awed by the amazing creatures we do our best to protect. It’s a rough life, but somebody’s gotta do it!