A new study looking at ships striking whales around the world has found a hot spot off the Island’s southwest coast that’s an elevated risk to whales.
The study, published this week in the journal Science, compared more than 400,000 recorded whale sightings and compared them with the global movements of 176 thousand ships. It found that off the Island’s southwest coast, there is a high concentration of ships passing through an area where humpback and fin whales migrate and feed.
The spot is right outside Swiftsure Bank, a special management zone to protect endangered southern resident killer whales.
Environmental organization Ocean Wise says the risk of strikes has increased because while shipping traffic has grown, so has the population of humpback whales around Vancouver Island.
