Humpback whale ‘Notcho’ dies after being hit by BC Ferries vessel

Posted October 28, 2026 6:04 pm

2 min read

A whale that was reported to have been struck by a B.C. ferry 10 days ago appears to have died.

According to the Marine Education and Research Society (MERS), the dead humpback was seen on the evening of Oct. 26 by the Grace Islands, which was the same location where the ferry reported hitting a whale.

“The animal was seen surfacing after that strike with significant blood in the water,” Caitlin Birdsall, executive director of MERS, said.

“Unfortunately, we were not able to identify which animal was involved in that strike, due to lower quality pictures at the time.”

Birdsall said that on Monday, staff on BC Ferries did see a deceased whale in the water and it was recovered by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

She added that while they cannot say for certain that the two whales are the same, it was in the same area and in the same timeline so it is likely to be the same whale.

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They believed the whale is “Notcho”, but Birdsall said it was not until they received some photos from a member of the public who lives on Gambier Island, that they were able to make the connection.

2:06 BC Ferry strikes humpback whale

Under the Canadian Pacific Humpback Collaboration, which is a collection of agencies and organizations who catalogue and monitor humpback whales along B.C.’s coast, Birdsall said a member of the Humpbacks of the Salish Sea project, Tasli Shaw, was able to match markings on the pectoral flipper to her long-term data set to name Notcho.

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Birdsall said they have sightings of Notcho from about 2016 in this area.

“This whale is known to go down to Hawaii to breed and then comes up to our waters to feed in the summertime,” she added.

They do not know how old Notcho was.

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Fisheries and Oceans Canada is leading the investigation and assessment.

“We share these waters with whales and other marine wildlife, and take that responsibility seriously,” BC Ferries said in a statement.

“We have measures in place to help reduce the risk of vessel strikes, including crew training, marine mammal reporting procedures and operational practices intended to reduce interactions with whales. We continue to review our practices and work with federal agencies and marine conservation partners to identify opportunities to further reduce these risks.”

Birdsall said there is still a lot that people can do to prevent whale strikes in B.C., including slow down zones, the whale report alert system and acoustic and infrared detection.

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