The Canadian Pacific Humpback Collaboration says it has identified a humpback whale found dead near the Grace Islands as a whale known as Notcho.
The discovery was made near the area where BC Ferries’ Queen of Surrey struck a humpback whale on Oct. 18. BC Ferries reported the collision to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
The collaboration said it identified Notcho using a photograph.
“Notcho was nicknamed by participants of the MERS 2017 Marine Mammal Naturalist course for a distinctive nick/notch out of the left side of his fluke,” the organization said in a social media post. “Sightings date back to 2016. He was known to migrate to Hawaii and has been documented feeding in the Salish Sea as of 2017.”
