Our Sustainable Approach
- Protecting our coast through leadership, engagement, and research -
For us, a day on the water is so much more than just watching whales. Our privileged access to these coastal giants comes with the responsibility to actively participate in their conservation efforts in meaningful ways. Our adventures combine eco-tourism with scientific research to make a positive impact.
Double the crew
Before you book your whale watching adventure, it’s a good idea to find out how many crew will be on the boat! Most RHIBS (zodiacs) are only crewed by one person, but we prefer to double up on every trip. It’s obviously far safer this way, but the extra crew also allows us to spend more time engaging with our guests, collecting important data, and snapping beautiful photos (always shared) so you don’t have to!
Conservation Pioneers
Since day one, our tours have focused on the growing populations of Bigg’s (transient) orcas and humpback whales. We were the first whale watching company in our region to avoid watching endangered Southern Resident orcas. We were also the only whale watching company in Canada to advocate for the moratorium on watching these endangered orcas in Canadian waters, which has now been written into law as part of the Canadian Shipping Act.
Our public data set
While most whale watching operators collect their own photos while on the water, we are the only whale watching company publishing ALL our data and photos from every single whale-watching trip on our website. We are proud to say that our sightings log has grown into a vast resource that includes rich descriptions of every single trip we’ve done! Our data is publicly available to scientists all over the world, and is used by the Center for Whale Research, BC Cetacean Sightings Network, Keta Coastal Conservation and more. Data collection includes identifying individuals, recording pod sizes, observing behaviours, and monitoring locations and direction of travel. Killer whales and humpback whales have unique scars, nicks, and colourings that make them unique and identifiable. By recognizing individual whales in our area, we can learn a lot about whale social structures, behaviours, and population trends - information that can all be used to help protect these species!
Funding for Marine Conservation
We collect $2.00 CAD from each passenger on our tours and donate it directly to whale conservation initiatives in BC.
Our donor recipients include:
Education on Coastal Conservation Issues
All of our onboard biologists have an academic background in natural sciences or naturalist training on West Coast wildlife. They are versed in current issues in coastal conservation with a heavy focus on orca, salmon, and humpback populations in BC. Each tour contains an onboard educational lecture on marine conservation, focusing on the threats facing marine life in BC, and an overview of conservation initiatives. We think of our vessels as floating classrooms, and our goal is to produce ambassadors for local marine life through educational and thought-provoking tours.
Marine Debris
We are proud to carry a plastic removal kit onboard our vessels. Our naturalists work hard to remove litter from our ocean that could potentially harm marine life by blocking their digestive tracts or debilitating their movements.
Biosphere SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE committeD
Biosphere is a program that looks at sustainability through the lens of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These SDGs are split across 3 fields: Environment and Climate Change, Society and Culture, and Governance and Economy. This year we will be further developing our sustainable practices in each of these areas on the road to full certification! We currently have a focus on Quality Education, Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, and Responsible Consumption and Production, but will be working towards contributing to each of the 17 SDGs to have a well rounded sustainability plan in place!
