They say a picture's worth 1000 words - here's one example.

They say a picture's worth 1000 words - here's one example.

This is humpback whale BCZ0408 Guardian and her 2026 calf in Blackney Passage, BC this morning as Virgin Voyages' new 2025 cruise ship the "Brilliant Lady" transited through.

The human impacts on whales are all too real: fisheries depleting food resources, derelict fishing gear causing entanglements, the risk of vessel strikes, toxic contamination, anthropogenic ocean noise, to say nothing of climate change, ocean acidification....the list goes on and on.

The above list is one reason we get frustrated with the focus on the impacts of whale-watching. Yes, whale-watching vessels have impacts, too - but they are heavily regulated, are introducing people to whales and inspiring a love of the marine environment, and as we showed in our post earlier this week, play an active sentinel role in mitigating impacts of other vessels on whales. We've been on the water with three different skippers this week off Northern Vancouver Island and the passion for the whales and wildlife they get to see on a daily basis could not have been more evident. If you haven't been on a whale watch trip in recent years, I hope you go on one to see for yourself how they operate.

To those who think we should ban whale-watching, I'm truly curious to hear if you are also no longer using ferries, taking cruises, or buying goods that are shipped overseas on cargo ships, since those are the vessels that dominate our underwater soundscape in the inland waters. There's a time and a place to talk about the ethics of whale-watching but we believe the extreme focus in Washington and BC on its detrimental effects, often at the expense of discussing other more major and complex topics, does a true disservice to the whales themselves.