Cetaceans by the Dozen

On the other side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on the shores of Quebec’s Côte-Nord region, minke whales and harbour porpoises have been showing off their dorsal fins in a number of places. In Port-Cartier, mariner Jacques Gélineau reports the observation of a haulout containing about thirty grey seals: “I think they spent the summer there,” he remarks. “I saw them a month ago and then again this week. Before that, I only ever saw grey seals occasionally. I’ve been here 20 years and I’ve never seen a grey seal haulout prior to this year.” Harbour seals were also spotted around Sept-Îles.

In Gallix, one marine mammal enthusiast watches pinnipeds: “At around 11 a.m. on October 8, I was able to observe five grey seals at the mouth of the Sainte-Marguerite River.” His watchful eye then shifts to the birds: “Yesterday was great. In addition to the seals, I saw around thirty gannets, hundreds of red-breasted mergansers and several hundred gulls. A few sanderlings and American golden-plovers were also present.  Unfortunately, all that was missing was the whale spouts!”

In Pointe-des-Monts, on Saturday, October 8, a local resident observes a distant humpback whale through the lens of his camera. The next day, an adult and a calf are seen swimming in the same area, not to mention a few minke whales.

At sunset on October 9, a minke whale executes a series of twenty or so breaches near the Saint-Siméon marina, much to the delight of a family enjoying a weekend getaway together. One member of the clan describes the scene in amazement: “The minke whale was breaching to the right of the wharf at a considerable distance… Over half its body was visible as it hurled itself vertically out of the water. We lost sight of it for 3 or 4 minutes where it was swimming in circles, then it jumped vertically with its mouth wide open. It was simply magical. The whale must have breached a good twenty times before approaching and swimming alongside the docks. We even saw fish jumping and wriggling in front of her…”

These data were reported by our network of observers. They give an idea of the presence of whales and do not represent the real distribution of whales in the St. Lawrence. Use them for fun!

Click on the whale or seal icons to discover the species, the number of individuals, additional information or photos of the sighting. To enlarge the map, click on the icon in the upper right corner. The map works well on Chrome and Firefox, but not so well on Safari.

To display the list of sightings, click on the icon in the upper left corner.

Want to share your observations and contribute to citizen science? Use the marine mammal observation tool.