J Pod as seen from land.
Photo by Janine McNeilly.

Monitoring on the edge: tracking Southern Residents from a Pender Island bluff

Three years observing whales in a vessel-free zone.

By Janine McNeilly 4 min. read

This is our third year monitoring the Pender Vessel Restricted Zone (VRZ), a protected area designed to reduce disturbance to critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales. From a cliffside lookout on Pender Island and through our underwater hydrophone, we track when whales use this area and how vessels behave around them.

Map of Raincoast’s Pender Vessel Restricted Zone study area. The Pender and Saturna VRZs are shown in red.
Raincoast’s Pender Vessel Restricted Zone study area. The Pender and Saturna VRZs are shown in red. The purple polygon represents our study area, where we document vessel traffic and whale presence. The Oaks Bluff viewpoint is marked with a green circle, and the Pender hydrophone is shown with an orange triangle. The blue polygon represents Boundary Pass, a commercial shipping corridor within the Salish Sea that separates the Canadian Southern Gulf Islands from the American San Juan Islands.

Why this matters

An acoustic environment free from human noise is essential for Southern Residents. Like all marine mammals, these whales rely on sound for communication, navigation, and foraging. Underwater noise from vessels can interrupt their calls and mask their echolocation, effectively shrinking the acoustic space available to them and making it harder for them to socialize and find food. 

How monitoring works

Researchers scan the VRZ and surrounding waters from the Oaks Bluff viewpoint. Using a precision surveying instrument called a theodolite, we determine the exact positions of whales and vessels in real time.

  • Janine McNeilly, PhD, looks out with her binoculors from the Pender Island bluffs.
  • Janine McNeilly, PhD, looks out with her binoculors from the Pender Island bluffs.
  • Solar power set up with theodolite overlooks the bluffs on Pender Island.

Our hydrophone, strategically located within the Pender Island VRZ,  continuously records underwater sound, capturing both whale calls and vessel noise. By combining our visual sightings with what we hear underwater, we can identify which whales are present, track how they move through the area, and better understand the acoustic conditions they experience below the surface. 

What we see and hear

While the VRZ was designed to protect Southern Residents, it is frequently used by mammal-eating Bigg’s (transient) killer whales and humpback whales. Our hydrophone has recorded calls from all three species as we followed their movements with the theodolite. We’ve also tracked harbour porpoise, Dall’s porpoise, minke whales, and even a fin whale during our surveys.

  • J Pod, killer whales, seen from land, surround by deep blue of the Salish Sea.
  • Killer Whales surface to breathe with bits of trees and branches obscuring the view slightly because this view is from a bluff.
  • Killer Whales surface to breathe and their spouts catch the light in golden and yellow colour.
  • A whale surfaces to breathe, seen from land, and a cliff face cuts in photo in half diagonally.
  • J26 killer whales surfaces with another member of J Pod in the Salish Sea.
  • A killer whale swims close to shore, as seen from high up on a cliff. The cliffside is visible in the right half of the image, with the killer whale in the ocean below.

Vessel compliance

The VRZs were established to provide a quiet refuge from vessel noise, but their effectiveness depends on both vessel compliance and appropriate monitoring. Enforcement currently relies on Automatic Information System (AIS) data, which tracks vessel identity and location. However, our monitoring indicates that approximately 70% of recreational vessels transiting through our survey area are not equipped with AIS, meaning their presence and associated noise contributions are consistently underestimated. Over the past two seasons, we have submitted more than 1,400 reports to Transport Canada for vessels without AIS. These infractions would have gone undetected without our dedicated monitoring efforts.

Collaboration across the region

This work is part of a broader regional effort. Since 2020, Simon Fraser University has partnered with the Saturna Island Marine Research and Education Society (SIMRES) to monitor the Saturna VRZ using similar methods. By aligning protocols and sharing data, we’re building a more complete picture of how Southern Residents and other whales use protected areas across the Southern Gulf Islands.

Cetacean Conservation Research Programpender islandSouthern Resident killer whales