A lone killer whale breaks the water in a Comox, B.C., harbour on Tuesday July 31, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jen Osborne

VANCOUVER - A family of killer whales has made a rare trip into waters off downtown Vancouver for what an expert says was likely a "grocery shopping" hunt for harbour seals.

Video shared on social media by False Creek Ferries shows the whales cruising past highrise towers at the entrance to False Creek on Sunday.

The captain of the ferry, Jack Hemsworth said the passengers on board were stunned as the whales' dorsal fins cut through the surface. He put the engine into neutral as the whales glided by.

“I've never been that close, even on like a whale watching tour,” said Hemsworth, adding that at one point, the whales passed within five feet of his little vessel, which was crossing from the West End in Vancouver to Kitsilano Beach.

The boats in the ferry fleet are only about 20 feet long -- smaller than most adult orcas.

Andrew Trites, director of the University of British Columbia's marine mammal research unit, has identified the whales as a family group of transient orcas consisting of a mother and her three offspring.

Trites said the video shows the whales moving quietly like "ghosts" to avoid alerting their prey.

"They're on the hunt, and so they don't want to make a big splash about it. They want to come in very stealthy-like, as though they weren't even there," said Trites.

"I'm sure there were hundreds of people walking along the seawall that day and they didn't even notice and these people aboard the boat, they had a very special moment they will remember for the rest of their lives."

He said it's the first time the 26-year-old mother orca, known as T35A, has shown up in downtown Vancouver with her children aged six, 11 and 14.

Trites said the well documented family has previously been seen by marine researchers from Alaska to the Strait of Juan de Fuca south of Vancouver Island.

He attributes the pod's surprising downtown appearance to seals also changing their habits as they hide from orcas, forcing killer whales to hunt in backwater areas like False Creek.

Killer whales have previously been spotted in False Creek, including in 2019, and in 2010 a grey whale swam all the way to the end of the inlet, near Science World.

Trites said researchers are hearing more reports of killer whales being seen in places where they've never been seen before.

He said the behaviour captured on the video suggests the whales didn't catch anything.

Trites said the sighting was an indication of the recovered health of the Salish Sea, saying it was "in a state that we haven’t seen it for over a century."

He likened it to living next to Tanzania's Serengeti National Park.

“It's a very healthy, vibrant system … we've seen humpback whales come back. We've seen our seal numbers recover and stabilize," he said.

"We see killer whales here every single day now and when I first came to B.C., I hardly ever saw a seal, never saw killer whales in here and it's all changed."

In 2021, the B.C. government estimated there were 206 "mature" transient orcas in the province's coastal waters, while U.S. authorities have put the total population at about 350.

The species is designated as threatened, meaning they are likely to become endangered without interventions.

But Trites said the population was growing, in association with the recovery of prey species, such as the Steller sea lion.

As a marine researcher who has been through many encounters with killer whales, Trites said those aboard the ferry should feel privileged.

"They are magical experiences," he said.

Hemsworth, who has worked for False Creek Ferries since 2019, agreed.

“I'm sure they shared all those videos with their friends and family, and it's nothing that they're gonna forget anytime soon,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2024.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2024