Beluga encounter in Bay of Fundy is rare
Published Saturday October 31st, 2009
There is little doubt one of our most fascinating sea mammals is the whale.
We are fortunate in New Brunswick to have a significant community of whale species that live or come to visit areas of our New Brunswick coastline, especially in areas of that giant food hamper, the Bay of Fundy.
We are indeed blessed to have the vast majority of the world's remaining North Atlantic Right Whale population join us in the Grand Manan Basin each summer to socialize as well as feed their calves.
Whales, being mammals, nurse their young with milk and breathe air. Other species that ply our waters like the Humpback, Finback and Minke Whales give whale watchers that thrill of a lifetime.
Then there is that striking white beauty, the Beluga Whale which currently does not make our coastal area home. Therefore, it was with an air of skepticism when I received a photo of a beautiful white beluga taken in the Bay of Fundy adjacent to Cape Enrage near Alma.
A quick query as to the photographer soon assured this was 'for real.'
In July of 2009, Luke Collins and Elizabeth MacDonald, grandchildren of well-known Alma residents Reg and Marina Collins, were out for a leisurely cruise in a small boat to explore Grindstone Island and Cape Enrage.
One can only imagine the sheer surprise to have a white whale come up to their boat circling around them and seemingly very much wanting their attention.
It came so close they were able to reach out and touch it. Fortunately they had cameras with them to record the event.
Some sleuthing into this beluga encounter off Cape Enrage has led to some rather intriguing discoveries.
There has been some other belugas come to the Maritimes in recent years that were very significant events. A bit of background information is indicated before we visit these scenarios.
The beluga is circumpolar, meaning it is native to the coastal areas of Alaska, Arctic Canada, Greenland and Russia. In some of these areas, the population is doing quite well but is challenged in others. A remnant population of approximately 1,000 animals in a deep trench area of the St. Lawrence River by Saguenay and Tadoussac, P.Q. is threatened by toxins in their food and habitat.
Alarmingly, one quarter of the animals that die in this area succumb to cancer. Belugas live in tightly knit groups (pods) of a few to 25 animals and are extremely sociable with one another.
When we see them, it is usually for a brief moment when they come to the surface, take a breath, then promptly dive to carry on the business of beluga life.
Whales live in a very acoustic world. An acute sense of hearing and echolocation guide their day-to-day life. They are very vocal and make a wide selection of clicks and calls to keep in contact with one another and locate food.
Their 'chatter' can actually be heard from a boat and early mariners called them 'sea canaries.' Although mature belugas are most apt to keep their distance, both adults and youngsters are highly inquisitive animals and are known to investigate objects or activities in their environment to satisfy a natural curiosity.
Occasionally a beluga becomes separated from its pod and strays many hundreds of kilometres into our Maritime coastal waters. If it happens to be a pure white sexually mature adult four to five metres in length, short glimpses may be all we will see. However, when an immature animal recognizable by a more greyish colour and smaller size strays into our water, the scenario can be very different.
An immature beluga (8-12 years of age) is, being sociable, often attracted to human activity and boats.
Particularly juvenile animals, some as young as two years of age when separated from their pod become very interested in the sounds coming from boat motors and will adopt boats and boaters as a substitute for their family members to meet their need for companionship.
The reaction in harbours from boaters is usually one of sheer delight to get so up close and interact with these stunningly beautiful and, well, 'cute' animals. However, the question remains as to how much and what type of human interaction is actually good for the whale since the friendly young belugas easily become accidentally injured to some degree. One was killed in Newfoundland in 2002 by propellers.
This scenario has happened several times in the Maritime coastal region and it led to the formation of the Whale Stewardship Project by Cathy Kinsman in 1998 to conduct pioneering research and provide guidance for the protection of these individuals.
Wilma, a young female beluga, arrived in Guysborough Harbor in Nova Scotia in 1993. She became a local resident to the delight of her substitute pod of boaters and stayed until February, 1999. Having reached sexual maturity she may have headed away searching for a 'real pod.'
A young beluga named Poco arrived in the Pocologan, N.B., and made close friends with the salmon aquaculture divers in Passamaquoddy Bay and the surrounding area in 2003. Poco was spotted in various harbours along the New England coast the following year. Tragically, his body washed ashore in Maine in November, 2004.
One of the very interesting harbour visits of a young beluga was to Advocate Harbour where it befriended a delighted audience for the summer and fall of 2008. After disappearing over the winter months, it briefly returned to Advocate in the spring of 2009 and then was gone again by June 2009.
It was in July of 2009 that the Collins grandchildren encountered a young beluga craving companionship just around the marine corner from Advocate Harbour at Cape Enrage. Chances are quite high that it is still out in the Bay of Fundy and may be ready to check out another local port of call. Laurie Murison, Managing Director of the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station, who spends much time on the Bay of Fundy charting and studying whale behavior and populations, comments she has only spotted two belugas in the bay. One sighting was in 1988, then Poco's visit in 2003.
Was the beluga ever present in our Maritime waters in earlier times? It was intriguing to be able to see a page from the diary of Charles Morris, Kings Surveyor, recorded in 1749, courtesy of Andrew Hebda at the Nova Scotia Museum.
Morris was making notes on 'wild beasts and fish' in the Minas Basin.
He wrote "in the Bay of Fundy are many White Fish which the Inhabitants call Baline because they are in the shape like a whale.. caught one aboard 17 feet in length and as big around as large.
"It yielded three barrels of oil. I have seen 30 or 40 sporting in the Waters at a time. These fish are also taken in St. Lawrence Gulph and in Canada River."
In repeating Morris' diary entry, I couldn't help but smile at the reaction of my editor boss if today's Naturescope was submitted with the frequent use of capitalization!
On the other hand, I wish our handwriting today was as 'artistic' as Mr. Morris. Andrew Hebda also has another less descriptive written record of belugas in the area written earlier in the 1700s.
It would seem most appropriate that it would be the Collins grandchildren that would spot and photograph this beluga off Cape Enrage that led to today's Naturescope column.
Reg and Marina (Martin) Collins started the Collins Lobster Shop circa 1970. That business changed hands in 1989 for family reasons but today the Alma Lobster Shop is the fisherman-owned outlet operated by the Collins/MacDonald family. The family has worked on the Fundy waters over a period of 49 years and has seen a great deal of marine life in the bay, but never a beluga until grandchildren Luke and Elizabeth 'broke the ice' in July.
I would very much like to thank those who contributed information to assemble today's Naturescope column, especially Cathy Kinsman, Laurie Murison, Marina Collins, Andrew Hebda and, of course, Luke and Elizabeth who 'triggered' it all.
I apologize for the verbosity of today's edition but every corner in the road sleuthing for today's column led to another tidbit too good to leave out.
Hope most of you were able to 'stay with me,' and make sure to watch for big white mammals off our New Brunswick coastline.
* Nelson Poirier, from the Moncton area, is a veterinarian by trade and a naturalist by nature. His column appears each Saturday and he can be reached at P.O. Box 25091, Moncton, N.B. E1C 9M9 or e-mail nelson@nb.sympatico.ca.
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