Humpback Notcho found dead after the Queen of Surrey strike

CBC News reported that a dead humpback whale found floating in Howe Sound was struck by a BC Ferries vessel last week, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Ferry passengers felt a collision with a whale on 18 October while travelling on the Queen of Surrey between Langdale Terminal on the Sunshine Coast and Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver. DFO said the collision happened between Grace Point and Keats Island.

A statement from BC Ferries said crew members spotted the dead whale on Monday, near Grace Island, and promptly reported it to DFO. Lilian Kim of BC Ferries said: "This is a very sad development, particularly following the collision involving the Queen of Surrey on Oct. 18."

Paul Cottrell of DFO's marine mammal response team located the whale on Tuesday and confirmed it is the same whale the ferry struck. He said the humpback's fluke and peduncle are missing from the rest of its body. The Canadian Pacific Humpback Collaboration confirmed the dead whale was Notcho (BCX1700). Notcho had a distinctive notch out of the left side of his fluke, and was known to feed in the Salish Sea since 2017, from Campbell River to Washington state, according to the collaboration. DFO confirmed the deceased whale is Notcho.