Look deep into the knowing eye of this magnificent one. He is a Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, a species of baleen whale for whom I hold a special place in my heart. 

Baleens are toothless whales who feed on plankton and other wee oceanic tasties that they consume through their baleens, a specialised filter of flexible keratin plates that frame their mouth and fit within their robust jaws.

Baleen whales, the mysticetes, split from toothed whales, the Odontoceti, around 34 million years ago. The split allowed our toothless friends to enjoy a new feeding niche and make their way in a sea with limited food resources. 

There are fifteen species of baleen whales who inhabit all major oceans. Their number include our humbacks, grays, right whales, bowhead and the massive blue whale. Their territory runs as a wide band running from the Antarctic ice edge to 81°N latitude. 

In the Kwak̓wala language of the Kwakiutl or Kwakwaka'wakw, speakers of Kwak'wala, of the Pacific Northwest, and my cousins on my father's side, whales are known as g̱wa̱'ya̱m. It is a term used for many species of whale including the  California grey and Humpback that live along our coast. 

Whaling was a global practice and is still done today. Most Inuit communities have voluntarily limited or ceased traditional whale hunting activities since the late 1970s, and have not hunted a bowhead whale, a baleen cousin to the humpback, in over 100 years. 

There was some whaling by my First Nation cousins around Vancouver Island but only a small number of individuals in First Nation society had the right to harpoon a whale. It was generally only the Chief who was bestowed that great honour. Our Nuu-chah-nulth cousins along the west coast of Vancouver Island held this practice but they also benefited from whales washing ashore—their bones made into ceremonial objects and tools and the flesh harvested if still edible. 

Humpback whales like to feed close to shore and enter the local inlets. Around Vancouver Island and along the coast of British Columbia, this made them a welcome food source as the long days of winter passed into Spring.

Humpback whales are rorquals, members of the Balaenopteridae family that includes the blue, fin, Bryde's, sei and minke whales. The rorquals are believed to have diverged from the other families of the suborder Mysticeti during the middle Miocene—some eleven to fifteen million years ago. 

While cetaceans were historically thought to have descended from mesonychids—which would place them outside the order Artiodactyla— molecular evidence supports them as a clade of even-toed ungulates — our dear Artiodactyla. 

It is one of the larger rorqual species, with adults ranging in length from 12–16 m (39–52 ft) and weighing around 25–30 metric tons (28–33 short tons). 

The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is known for breaching and other distinctive surface behaviours, making it popular with whale watchers and a lucky few who catch their antics from the decks of our local ferries.

Both male and female humpback whales vocalize, but only males produce the long, loud, complex "song" for which the species is famous. Males produce a complex soulful song lasting 10 to 20 minutes, which they repeat for hours at a time. I imagine Gregorian Monks vocalizing their chant with each individual melody strengthening and complimenting that of their peers. All the males in a group produce the same song, which differed in each season. We tell of these whale songs in our Indigenous stories. From a Western science perspective, its purpose is not clear, though it may help induce estrus in females and bonding amongst the males.

Found in oceans and seas around the world, humpback whales typically migrate up to 25,000 km (16,000 mi) each year. 

They feed in polar waters and migrate to tropical or subtropical waters to breed and give birth, fasting and living off their fat reserves. Their diet consists mostly of krill and small fish. 

Humpbacks have a diverse repertoire of feeding methods, including the bubble net technique.

Humpbacks are a friendly species that interact with other cetaceans such as bottlenose dolphins. They are also friendly and oddly protective of humans. 
You may recall hearing about an incident off the Cook Islands a few years back. Nan Hauser was snorkeling and ran into a tiger shark. Two adult humpback whales rushed to her aid, blocking the shark from reaching her and pushing her back towards the shore. We could learn a thing or two from their kindness. We have not been as good to them as they have been to us.

Like other large whales, the humpback was a tasty and profitable target for the whaling industry. My grandfather and uncle participated in that industry out of Coal Harbour on northern Vancouver Island back in the 1950s. So did many of my First Nation cousins. My cousin John Lyon has told me tales of those days and the slippery stench of that work.
​
Six whaling stations operated on the coast of British Columbia between 1905 and 1976. Two of these stations were located at Haida Gwaii, one at Rose Harbour and the other at Naden Harbour. Over 9,400 large whales were taken from the waters around Haida Gwaii. The catch included blue whales, fin whales, sei whales, humpback whales, sperm whales and right whales. In the early years of the century, primarily humpback whales were taken. In later years, fin whales and sperm whales dominated the catch. 

Whales were hunted off South Moresby in Haida Gwaii, on the north side of Holberg Inlet in the Quatsino Sound region. It was the norm at the time and a way to make a living, especially for those who had hoped to work in the local coal mine but lost their employment when it shut down. 

While my First Nations relatives hunted whales in small numbers many years ago, my Norwegian relatives participated in the hunt on a scale that nearly led to the extinction of our lovely Humpbacks before the process was banned. 

The Coal Harbour Whaling Station closed in 1967. Once it had closed, my grandfather Einar Eikanger, my mother's father, took to fishing and my uncle Harry lost his life just the year before when he slipped and fell over the side of the boat. He was crushed between the hull and a Humpback in rough seas.

Our Humpback populations have partially recovered from those days to build their population up to 80,000 animals worldwide—but continued whaling by many countries along with entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, and noise pollution continue to negatively impact the species. So be kind if you see them. Turn your engine off and see if you can hear their soulful cries echoing in the water.

I hope you have had a chance to see these lovelies in the wild, if not, I did up a video so you can see them in all their majesty.

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/_Vbta7kQNoM

​A group of 15 First Nations, along with the British Columbia and federal governments, has announced a co-governance plan for marine protected areas that run from the top of Vancouver Island to the province’s border with Alaska.

The Network Action Plan follows years of negotiations, takes in areas that provide key habitat for fish, sea birds and marine mammals, and reflects Indigenous communities’ insistence that they be involved in conservation strategy for the region.

“Our ability to come together as Indigenous people, as we have for 14,000 years, has led us to this position – where we are doing this together,” said Dallas Smith, president of Nanwakolas Council, one of the groups involved in the plan, at a formal announcement Sunday for the development.

The plan covers the Northern Shelf Bioregion, an area that spans roughly the northern third of Canada’s West Coast and is also known as the Great Bear Sea because it is linked by location, environment and communities to the Great Bear Rainforest, a conservation area on the B.C. coast.

First Nations in the area have been working on detailed marine conservation strategies since at least 2006. Other plans have since materialized, including a 2014 strategy agreement between Canada and B.C.

The plan unveiled Sunday is intended to be a blueprint for adding potential new marine protected areas (MPA) and managing existing ones. It follows a December announcement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for up to $800-million in federal funding for as many as four Indigenous-led conservation areas. They are considered key if Canada is to meet its goal of protecting 30 per cent of its lands and oceans by 2030.

‘Ambitious’ conservation targets demand agreement between B.C., Ottawa

The Network Action Plan is also intended to have a financial component through what’s called a Project Finance for Permanence Model, or PFP, which links public, private and philanthropic funds to create permanent endowments that can help pay for guardian programs or other initiatives.

In a statement, the federal government said the new plan is the first approach for an MPA network in Canada and shows a world-leading model of collaborative governance.

MPAs put designated areas off-limits to certain activities, such as commercial fishing. In a statement Sunday, WWF-Canada applauded the action plan but called for speedy implementation, including formalized protection measures.

In a related update, federal, provincial and First Nation officials on Sunday announced the first marine refuge in the Northern Shelf Bioregion.

The refuge, the Gwaxdlala/Nalaxdlala area in Knight Inlet on the B.C. coast, is home to fragile and slow-growing coral. The Mamalilikulla First Nation had in November, 2021, declared the area an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area.

“We made our IPCA designation with the intent of protecting, restoring and managing the unique ecological and cultural features of these sites,” Mamalilikulla Chief John Powell said Sunday, adding that in doing so, his First Nation asked for “urgent action” to protect the area.

All commercial, recreational and food, social and ceremonial (FSC) fisheries will be closed within the area. It’s hoped that marine refuges will have a “nursery effect” that will enhance biodiversity and recovery in nearby areas, Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray said.

Sunday’s announcements were made at the 5th International Marine Protected Areas Congress, an international oceans forum being held Feb. 3 to 9 in Vancouver.