24-05-2025
'Big Momma' humpback returns to Salish Sea with eighth known calf
No one knows exactly why humpback BCY0324, better known as Big Momma, decided to pivot right one day in 1997, rather than continuing north up the west coast of Vancouver Island for summer feeding.
Maybe a giant swarm of krill caught her attention, maybe it was a huge school of baby herring. Whatever the reason, she was one of the first humpbacks sighted in inland waters, off Victoria, since the early 1900s, the executive director of Pacific Whale Watch Association, said.
On Wednesday, May 21 she was spotted again, this time with her newest calf in tow.
'She's been returning ever since 1997, and now has at least eight calves, seven grandcalves, and four great-grandcalves,' said Erin Gless, Anacortes-based executive director of the Pacific Whale Watch Association.
'She's widely beloved for playing a key role in the recovery of local humpbacks.
'We're always eager to see who the first calf of the season will be and we're always anxious waiting for Big Momma's return. This year we got to celebrate both happy occasions at once!'
Big Momma and her calf were spotted Wednesday in Haro Strait, northeast of Sidney Island, followed by several more sightings the next day.
The calf, Gless estimates, is four or five months old, and stayed close to mom through every sighting.
'This is actually very, very early in the season, that's why it's kind of a big deal that this is the first baby (spotted), they'll be coming in all through the summer and they'll stay, usually, through October and November.'
Pacific Ocean humpbacks spend their cold months in warmer climes, where they mate and the females give birth, then head north as far as Alaska, and south as far as Antarctica to raise their calves and feed.
Adult humpbacks weigh up to 40 tonnes and grow to 18 metres long, with tails as wide as 5.5 metres, and they migrate as far as any mammal on the planet — Hawaii to Victoria is almost 5,000 kilometres one way and takes five to six weeks.
Brett Soberg first saw Big Momma in 2003, off Vancouver Island's Sheringham Point and also with a calf.
'That was the first humpback I'd ever seen,' Soberg, who co-owns Eagle Wing and Wildlife Tours in Victoria, said. 'I've been in this industry since '97, so that was an exciting day for me.'
When the passengers on his tours see Big Momma, he said, they are awed but also inspired to learn that each humpback has a unique personality, its own feeding technique, and feelings.
'Personally, the emotional connection and the power of the emotional connection is offering details about the individual animal as an individual, a unique personality, unique set of skills,' he said. 'When you share that, people are, I think, kind of flabbergasted a little bit.
'They don't realize the complexity of the personality of these animals, they all have personalities. That's the beautiful thing.'
Big Momma, he says, looks healthy, happy and well fed.
'She's delightful, just one of those animals that has a really nice disposition and personality, and she is a fantastic mom, so she she's found a really good humpback-whale rhythm.'
But more than that, she's been one of the keys to Pacific humpbacks increasing their population since commercial whaling was banned in 1967.
It's estimated the humpback population in the Pacific fell to below 1,000 by the time whaling was outlawed. And, of course, none had visited the Salish Sea in decades before that.
Today, Gless said there are probably about 25,000 humpbacks in the North Pacific, with about 400 or so coming to the Salish Sea to feed each summer and fall.
'Big Momma is a perfect example of how important a single whale can be to a population,' she said, pointing to the 19 calves, grandcalves and great-grandcalves of hers.
There's no way of knowing how old Big Momma is, but humpbacks can live to be 80 or 90, and females do not undergo menopause so there may be many more of the whale's descendants yet to come.
It's a perilous journey from Hawaii, especially with a newborn calf, Gless said: Big Momma has to swim slowly so her calf can keep up, and manoeuvre around fishing gear and commercial shipping traffic.
'And they do have a natural predator so they're trying to dodge orcas on the way, too,' Gless said.'We're thrilled that she's back every year.
'Waiting for her, we get really anxious, so it's a weight off our shoulders when she gets spotted again.'
gordmcintyre@
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