Hungry humpback brings crowds to Holyrood, but boaters be wary

A young humpback whale is keeping a steady diet of herring in Holyrood this month, inspiring plenty of onlookers, along with a warning from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

"We have some terrible weather here right now, but to have this opportunity, it is wonderful," resident Jim Miller said Monday.

"It's a thing of nature that you just can't, you can't buy that," he said.

Miller said it's the first time he's seen a humpback so close to the shore in his 30 years in the town.

"I was standing at this wharf right here behind me, I heard a noise, and I looked over to the side and I was looking straight into his mouth he was about 10 feet away from me filled full of herring!"

A 'bucket list' opportunity

People are flocking to the bay to catch a glimpse of the whale, including tourists Victor and MaryWyprysky from Toronto.

"It's certainly one of the things on our bucket list, so if we could get this fantastic photo that everyone has been chatting about, that would be wonderful!" said MaryWyprysky.

Miller said the whale has "a wonderful situation, it's a very protected bay." But he's pleading with boaters to respect a healthy distance.

"We did have a couple of power boats by here. We were able to get them out of here before they got injured," said Miller.

"If something happens with the whale, he might get excited and somebody could get hurt. So any power boats, we'd appreciate if they'd stay away for their safety," he added.

Distracted animal could get hurt

Department of Fisheries and Oceans researcher Jack Lawsonsaid there were several smaller speed boats "racing around the area" on Sunday, and residents have raised concerns about that.

"In this case we're worried because this animal seems to be a younger whale, and it's also feeding so it's obviously concentrating more on its food than it might be, perhaps, on whether or not there's boats around," Lawson said Monday.

"And he's quite enjoying himself."

Lawson said they will be keeping an eye on that, asnew regulations require boats to stay 100 metres away from any marine mammal and it's a small, shallow area of water.

"So there's not a lot of scope for the animal to dive to escape."

Lawson said people are getting a fantastic chance to see how humpbacks eat, by corralling the herring at the shore or surface, scooping them up in a big mouthful of water, andusing its tongue to squeeze out the water to swallow the fish.

But with the whale frequenting the surface to eat and breathe, it's a reminder of what can go wrong when "unpredictable" whales and humans get too close.

Lawson said they saw a humpback near Twillingate a number of years ago with a scar.

"You can see where it's a healed propeller mark, and actually cuts the dorsal fin off the animal as well. Now, the animal is lucky because in this case it's healed up."

"I don't want to see that happen to an animal like this that's feeding," said Lawson.

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