Upcoming temperatures good for whales, whale watching

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WATCH: A return to normal temperatures could be good news for both whales and whale watchers. Calvin To reports.

Vancouver Island could be experiencing a warmer and drier than normal summer, according to Environment Canada.

“It was a beautiful spring last year. I think, unfortunately, we’re just paying for it this year with the amount of rainy weather,” says Environment Canada meteorologist Cindy Yu.

At the same time, ocean experts say ocean temperatures are cooling down after a few years above normal.

This could be good for certain whale populations in the future, say oceanographers.

“The orcas depend on the salmon, the salmon depend on their life cycle,” says oceanographer Peter Chandler at the Institute of Ocean Sciences. “If they’ve been impacted by poor zooplankton abundance or warmer conditions, that’s going to be eventually transmitted up to the higher predators which rely on them.”

This is all good news for the whale watching industry, which is expected to increase in popularity over the next few months.

If it’s going to be a warm summer, I’m going to be very happy, because definitely a warm summer will bring lots of people to the city,” says Alan McGillivray, owner of Prince of Whales Whale Watching.

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