A whale researcher will ask British Columbians to be good neighbours to marine giants in an upcoming webinar presented by Nanaimo Area Land Trust.

Jackie Hildering, humpback whale researcher in Port McNeill, will explain how humans can help protect humpback whales in the Return of Giants, a webinar about getting a second chance with the whales that she says came close to extinction before numbers rebounded.

Hildering said data is poor on how many whales there were when whaling was halted in Canada in 1966, but 鈥渟ightings were the exception鈥� along the B.C. coast up into the 2000s when their numbers rose from an estimated seven humpbacks sighted in 2003 to 96 counted in the waters of northeast Vancouver Island in 2019.

鈥淚t truly is a second chance and it鈥檚 not just population growth post-whaling. They鈥檙e also shifting from somewhere鈥︹�� said Hildering, who is director of education and communications for the Marine Education and Research Society. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know where that shift is from and what that means in terms of climate and/or prey, so this is a unique chance to learn so much.鈥�

She said there鈥檚 knowledge to be gained about climate, ecosystems, social associations and feeding strategies from the whales, which can rest just below the water鈥檚 surface or surface unexpectedly after very long dives.

鈥淲hat has also become so incredibly necessary is boater education,鈥� Hildering said. 鈥淸Humpbacks] are a game changer for all flavours of boaters on our coast because they鈥檙e giants. The mature females are as big as big as school buses.鈥�

Humpback habits, physical size and even how they sense their environment is different from orcas and dolphins that hunt with their natural form of echo-locating sonar that allows them to track and pinpoint prey and other objects, such as boats.

鈥淸Humpbacks] don鈥檛 have the bio-sonar of toothed whales,鈥� Hildering said. 鈥淓specially when they鈥檙e feeding, having left our rich waters to go to the breeding lagoons of primarily Mexico and Hawaii, they are hungry. They are feeding and they are most often oblivious to boats, so that鈥檚 one huge educational need to bring across to people.鈥�

It鈥檚 also difficult to portray how high the risks of net entanglement and collisions are, she said, because most whales sink when they die. With no dead whale bodies floating on the water鈥檚 surface there鈥檚 no evidence of a death, but 50 per cent of the whales studied show scars of boat collisions and net entanglement.

鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 even the legal obligation to report collision or entanglement up to 鈥� 2018 and even Transport Canada hasn鈥檛 caught up,鈥� Hildering said. 鈥淚t will change, but how is even the best-intentioned boater supposed to know about whale behaviour, let alone what the marine mammal regulations are?鈥�

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Hildering is often asked why humpback whales are here, but the better question, she said, is why would humpbacks leave an area where they鈥檙e finding food. The whales belong here because the waters around Vancouver Island are rich in the 鈥減lanktonic soup鈥� they thrive on, the researcher said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 this thinking that they鈥檙e in transit, but what our research supports is these are neighbours that come back to specific spots on our coast year upon year upon year,鈥� she said. 鈥淥f the 96 I referenced from 2019, 89 per cent of those were whales we had documented previously. They are specialists in certain strategies for certain prey in this area 鈥� knowing what works in a certain area like fishermen and fisherwomen do.鈥�

Hildering, also known as 鈥榯he Marine Detective鈥� and standup comic of marine conservation, is an educator, cold-water diver and underwater photographer, who has worked on-camera with PBS, BBC and Animal Planet, so next week鈥檚 webinar promises to be entertaining and educational, said NALT in a press release. The free webinar will be presented Thursday, Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. Links to attend the webinar will be made available Monday, Jan. 18. For more information, contact paul@nalt.bc.ca.

To learn more about the Marine Education and Research Society, visit and for more information about Hildering, visit .

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