Pod of killer whales spotted in Indian Arm near Metro Vancouver

Jim Hanson was stacking wood with his24-year-old son early Friday evening by the northern part of the fjord of Indian Arm when he heard whathe thought was "the puff of a whale."

He disregarded it, thinking there was no chance he was really hearing thesoundof whales exhaling on the surface of the water. Inhis 59 years visiting the area, around 20 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, he'dnever once seen a whale in the inlet until his son alerted him to the sight of killer whales.

"We ran down to the water ... it was a mother and a father and two juveniles," said Hanson.

"Afterthree big breaths they went down and stayed down a long time. They must have found something to eat," he said.

Nicolai Ianoviciwaswalking in the rain with a friend at BarnetMarine Park in Burnaby, B.C.,around the same time when they, too, caught a glimpse of the killer whales.

The whales werea distance further south from the Hanson's sighting, where Indian Arm meets Burrard Inlet.

Watch the killer whales surfacing off Barnet Marine Park:

Pod of killer whales spotted cruising through Indian Arm

4 years ago

Duration 0:31

A group of two adults and three babies were seen jumping in and out of the water for about fifteen minutes.

"It was amazing," saidIanovici. "I've been many times inthis park but this time was something special."

The friends stayed and watched whileIanovicifilmed the scene. He described seeinga group of two adults and three baby orcasjumping out of the water for about fifteen minutes.

Last April,two separate groups of killer whales werespotted swimming in Vancouver's harbour, snacking on seals.

One group of five, a mother and her four offspringswamthroughthe harbour under the Second Narrows Bridge and up into Indian Arm.

At that time,LanceBarrett-Lennard, director of the Marine Mammal Research program at Ocean Wise said seeing whales in the harbour was a fairly rare occurrence.

"I was quite pleased to see that they actually ventured up into Indian Arm, a place that they would have used quite frequently a hundred years ago," said Barrett-Lennard.

Hanson said he's encouraged that whales are venturing so far up into Indian Arm, because the noise from nearby industrial activity would normally have keptthem out.

"They must have found something to eat within the marine ecosystem. Theremust be some abundant schooling fish down deep," he said.