B.C. paddleboarder fined $2,500 for getting too close to killer whales

A B.C. woman was fined for getting up close to a pod of orcas, in an incident that was caught on camera in 2021.

A B.C. woman has been fined $2,500 for paddleboarding too close to a pod of killer whales off Vancouver Island, convicted of violating of the federal Fisheries Act.

The incident – caught on video and shared on social media – unfolded when the orcas were passing through Ucluelet Inlet in January of 2021, according to a spokesperson for Fisheries and Oceans Canada

“They were highly visible, stayed for some time, and their presence drew a large crowd who gathered along the downtown waterfront area to observe the whales,” a statement from the department said, adding that the woman, “ran down the dock with a stand-up paddleboard and proceeded to paddle out to view the whales from a closer distance, intentionally put herself very close to the whales on multiple occasions.”

On Tuesday, Christie Jamieson, the paddleboarder, was convicted of one count of contravening the act, which establishes that observers of killer whales species must stay at a minimum distance of 200 metres away.

Regulations that force people – whether in boats, or kayaks, or on paddleboards – to keep their distance from orcas are in place because of the potential to disturb the “normal behaviour patterns of these animals,” the spokesperson for Fisheries and Oceans Canada explained.

It is also illegal to do anything to “disturb” killer whales, which includes approaching them, trying to swim with them, separating members of a pod, or blocking the animals’ path with a vessel.

The whales that the paddleboarder approached in this instance were Pacific Region Transient Killer Whales, commonly known as Bigg’s Killer Whales, which are listed as a threatened – though not endangered – species in Canada. In addition to pollution and a lack of prey, “acoustic and physical disturbance” are among the factors that put the species at risk.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada urges anyone who witnesses potential illegal activity to report it by calling the Marine Mammal Incident Hotline at 1-800-465-4336.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Shannon Paterson