Canada

An online search for the world’s best places to go whale watching will almost always include at least one location in Canada.  With extensive coastline on both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as unique Arctic habitats, whale watching opportunities in Canada are wide and varied.  From modest beginnings, the industry rapidly increased through the 1990s¹. 

Target species, peak times of year and locations:

With such a varied range of habitats, the range of species that can be observed is also highly varied – ranging from the iconic killer whales that are the focus of whale watching in British Columbia on the Pacific Northwest coast, to beluga whales in the Canadian Arctic.  The table below presents a broad overview of these opportunities by region.  While most whale watching opportunities are boat-based, there are also opportunities for land-based whale watching on the Pacific Northwest coast (see the case study on the Whale Trail on this site), and encounters (with beluga whales) in the Churchill area.  Whale watching in Quebec can be combined with a unique form of research tourism featured in this handbook’s cases study on the Mingan Island Cetacean Study.  While many species, particularly those endemic to the Arctic region, are present in Canada year-round, whale watching tours are generally conducted between May and September, when weather, sea and ice conditions are more conducive to enjoying time on the water.  This peak also coincides with the arrival of various whale species, including humpback, and minke whales on their feeding grounds on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Canada, and gray whales on the  Pacific coast. While Endangered North Atlantic Right Whales also come to Canada’s East coast to feed, they are highly endangered and should not be subjected to vessel approaches.

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Regulations and Guidelines

In 2018, The Canadian government updated its national marine mammal regulations (document SOR/93/56), which fall under the country’s Fisheries Act. Schedule VI of the regulations stipulates a minimum approach distance of 100 metres for most whale and dolphin species, with greater distances for some populations that are deemed at greater risk, such as killer whales in British Columbia and Beluga whales in Manitoba, and a range of species in the St. Lawrence Estuary.  These approach distances are law, and can be enforced as such.   It is worth noting that prior to 2018, there were commercial ‘swim with whales’ tours offered in Canada, but this was made illegal under the revised regulations. 

These legal regulations are also further supported by resources for outreach and awareness-raising, such as the trans-boundary Be Whale Wise partnership in place on the Pacific Northwest Coast.  This partnership involves the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, as well as the San Juan County Marine Resource Committee and the the Vancouver Aquarium among others.  They have produced an approach diagram and simple summary of regulations that are easy for whale watchers to interpret.

In addition to approach distances and regulations, Canada’s Department for Fisheries and Oceans also provide the following guidelines on their website: 

Be Whale Wise

While watching marine mammals, you should never:

• feed them
• swim, dive or interact with them
• move, encircle them or entice them to move
• change directions quickly or park your boat in their path
• approach them when they’re resting
• separate a mammal from its group or go between it and a calf
• trap a marine mammal or a group either between a vessel and the shore, or between a vessel and other vessels
• approach them if there are already several boats present
• approach head on or from behind, as this will cut off their movements
• tag or mark them
• touch, feed or disturb an animal, even if it comes up to a wharf or the shoreline
• approach using aircraft

Porpoises and dolphins

If dolphins or porpoises ride the bow wave of your boat, avoid sudden course changes. Hold course and speed or reduce speed gradually. Do not drive through groups of porpoises or dolphins.

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Research on whale watching in Canada

Canada has been a hotspot for different types of research related to whale watching.  Whale watching vessels and research tourism have made significant contributions to the understanding and conservation of a number of whale species as outlined, for example, in our case study on the Mingan Island Cetacean Study. The project focuses on baleen whale species, such as blue and fin whales, and uses photo-identification, satellite tagging, genetic sampling and other methods to estimate population numbers and survival rates and to determine temporal and spatial distribution and habitat use^2,3.    The unique long-term data sets generated by the project are allowing the team to monitor population parameters over time and detect important trends^2-5. The project has also documented a worrying shift in the arrival times of whales to this important feeding ground, an indication that climate change is affecting whale migrations and their prey⁶.  

There have also been numerous studies conducted on the possible impact of whale watching on whales, with a particular focus on the endangered southern resident killer whales (SRKW) of the Pacific Northwest ^7-16. The results of these studies have been used to help inform policy and regulation, and have resulted in the more cautious approach regulations for this population of whales (see details above).

Other studies have focused more on regulation and management of whale watching, including the sustainability of whale watching on gray whales on Canada’s Pacific coast¹⁷ and humpback whales in Newfoundland and Labrador¹⁸, as well as an evaluation of the effectiveness of different regulatory measures in place to protect SRKW and other species^18-21.

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