Grey whale research halted due to COVID-19 concerns

At this time of year, scientists from Fisheries and Oceans Canada would be out on their boats studying the grey whale migration north, but like many other things, their researchhas been stopped by COVID-19.

Thomas Doniol-Valcroze, a research scientist who leadsthe federal government's cetacean research program, says the annual migration which occurs every spring is a good window of opportunity to check on the condition of the individual whales.

This year was also an important one for his team because the grey whale population suffered big losses last year, with several including at least eightin B.C. being found dead or stranded on beaches along the Pacific coast.

"We were all eager to see this year if they were doing fine, but because of the situation, obviously, [we are limited] to what we can do," Doniol-Valcroze told host Kathryn Marlow on CBC's All Points West.

Listen to the full interview with researcherThomas Doniol-Valcroze:

Pod of killer whales spotted cruising through Indian Arm

5 years ago

Duration 0:31

A group of two adults and three babies were seen jumping in and out of the water for about fifteen minutes.

Typically, research teams go out together on small tomedium-sized boats to take photographs and measurements of the whales. But because of physical distancing measures, all field work has been suspended until at least May 1.

"A boat is a small place and teamwork is a big part of what we do, so it's very hard for us to do this and respect all the guidelines for social distancing."

But there are other ways of gathering interesting data,Doniol-Valcrozesays. These include methods likeacoustic mooring, where hydrophonesare dropped underwater in specific locations to record sounds from passing whales.

And sincegrey whales migrate close to the coast, the team could potentially work from the shore,using drones to fly over the whales and gather measurements.

There is one silver lining to all the forced physical distancing, however.

There are fewer ferries, ships, and whale watching boats and correspondingly, less marine noise.

"And that's a good thing for these animals," saidDoniol-Valcroze, adding thatthere have been anecdotal reports of whales swimming closer to shore in areas where they are not usually seen, like a group of killer whales spotted in Indian Arm, near Vancouver.

Watch a pod of killer whalessurface off Barnet Marine Parkin Burnaby, B.C.:

But there's no way of truly quantifying the effect.

"We can't really monitor what they're doing right now, because we can't be out there for the same reason."

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