![]() Salish Sea Humpbacks is an ongoing photo identification project for humpback whales in the Salish Sea and we would be completely lost without their great ID catalogs. Cascadia Research Collective is based in Olympia and has been doing extensive research across the entire Pacific Ocean for over 40 years. Research - There are several great organizations working on research and conservation of humpbacks in the Salish Sea. Whales designated “BCX” have mostly black flukes, “BCZ” have mostly white flukes, and “BCY” designates a mix of both black and white.Ĭalves - Because the pigment in a calf’s fluke will change dramatically in the first few years of life they are generally not given an official number until they are a few years old and instead are identified by their mother’s number (if their mother is known). ![]() Through the CPHC whales are given an ID number that starts with BC for British Columbia, and then is followed by either an, X, Y, or Z, which is given based on the pigmentation of the underside of their flukes. We’ve organized our list according to the Canadian Pacific Humpback Collaboration, which covers humpback whales in the entirety of the Salish Sea, but we have also included ID numbers from other entities when they’re known to make it easy to quickly search for your favorite whale. When there’s confirmation of whales being cross-matched to their breeding grounds we include that below.ĬPHC #s - Because humpback whales have such a long migration, covering many state and country lines, they tend to pick up not only an abundance of barnacles and admirers along the way, but also an abundance of ID numbers from various government and non-government organizations. The individuals that are most commonly spotted in Puget Sound have usually migrated here from the Hawaiian breeding grounds and are generally en route to their winter feeding grounds in the Bering Sea. The four main regions in the North Pacific are Hawaii, Mexico, Central America and Asia. There are several common breeding grounds in tropical and sub-tropical waters for humpback whales. In one of the most incredible wildlife conservation stories of our lifetime, after being extirpated locally by commercial whaling, Humpback Whales are now making an incredible comeback in the Salish Sea and more and more humpbacks are making their way further inland, deeper into the waters of Puget Sound proper.
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