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Howe Sound humpbacks rebounding

This year has been one of the busiest in recent memory for humpback whale sightings in Howe Sound, according to the B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network.
Breaching whale
A humpback whale blasts out of the water in Howe Sound

This year has been one of the busiest in recent memory for humpback whale sightings in Howe Sound, according to the B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network.

Humpbacks, which are finding ample food here and no longer face the threat of whaling, used to frequent the sound in the early 1900s, drawing in the first commercial whale watching business. They were later hunted until local populations were largely extinct.

"We hope, as humpbacks show up a little bit more in each area, that we'll see humpbacks using this area like they used to historically," she Caitlin Birdsall, network co-ordinator.

In the meantime, if you see a whale, dolphin or porpoise, you are asked to report it at 1-866-I-Saw-One and give the animals a wide berth.

"Make sure you slow down, stay 100 metres away and give the animals their space," Birdsall said.