Rare sightings of killer whale: Nova Scotia boaters warned to keep their distance

CANSO – Kayla Partridge was on a small boat with family and friends Sunday when they were suddenly part of an exceptionally rare encounter with a lone killer whale off southern Cape Breton.

“We were just kind of putting along and then we saw him breach,” Partridge said in an interview Monday, recalling how the orca leapt from the water on the western side of the Canso Causeway, which links the island with mainland Nova Scotia.

“We shut the motor down, shut everything down, and just coasted along. It came right up under the boat … two or three times.”

A video of the sighting shows the large, black-and-white whale swimming under the boat and then surfacing a few metres away, exhaling a powerful blast breath from its blowhole.

“We all got sprayed,” said Partridge, who lives in nearby East Tracadie, N.S. “It was really remarkable. It’s not a normal thing for around here …. It’s one of those, holy cow, once-in-a-lifetime (moments).”

On Sunday, the Nova Scotia-based Marine Animal Response Society posted messages on social media saying the solitary orca had been spotted in the last few days and appeared to be in good shape.

“Orca sightings in coastal Nova Scotia are rare, making this a truly remarkable animal to encounter,” the organization said in an online statement.

Meanwhile, the non-profit group asked boaters to give the whale plenty of room, adding that federal rules require vessels to stay at least 100 metres away from any whales.

The group said it had received numerous reports of vessels near the whale, saying that information had been forwarded to the federal Fisheries Department, which had dispatched fishery officers to the strait.

“The best way to enjoy this rare visitor is from shore,” the conservation group said. “Giving the whale plenty of space helps reduce disturbance and allows it to move through the area naturally.”

Partridge said she and her family were on their way home when they spotted the whale. She said they were aware of the regulations and made no effort to approach the animal.

“We had the motor shut off long before we ever got anywhere close to being 100 meters away. I think it just saw us and … was curious,” she said. 

“I would urge anyone out there in the straight who’s driving around trying to find it, just to be respectful of those regulations. It does keep the animals safe and it keeps you safe.”

Later on Monday, the Fisheries Department issued a statement saying fishery officers were in the area on Sunday and Monday to remind vessel operators about the marine mammal regulations.

“While officers were on scene, no vessels were observed chasing or otherwise disturbing the orca,” the department said, adding that the officers were expected to meet with members of the Marine Animal Response Society.

“Our officers will fly a drone and attempt to gather footage of the whale, which may help assess its condition … (and) capture footage of any potential regulatory violations.”

In 2008, a research paper prepared for the federal Fisheries Department said a review of sightings and photographs from across Atlantic Canada confirmed 363 sightings between 1864 and 2007, most of them recorded in the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador. 

“Killer whales have been reported rarely from coastal Nova Scotia, the Bay of Fundy and the northeastern United States, despite many years of aerial and shipboard cetacean surveys conducted by the (U.S.-based) National Marine Fisheries Service,” the paper said.

More recently, lobster fishers working off northern Cape Breton reported seeing a pod of about a dozen orcas not far from Cape Smokey in June of last year.

As well, published accounts in 2023 reported sightings near Cape Race, N.L., as well as near La Tabatière, Que., in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the Bay of Fundy near New Brunswick’s Grand Manan Island. 

Aside from the most recent sighting on the weekend, the last time people in Canso, N.S., spotted orcas was in June 2019.

And in July 2016, a family on a small boat off southern Newfoundland reported being encircled by a pod of orcas. At the time, retired fisherman Norm Strickland said five or six whales surrounded his 5.5-metre boat near Burgeo and started charging the boat.

“It was really harder than a bump,” Strickland said in an interview in 2016. “It was jolting the boat enough that when it hit, you almost lost your balance.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2026.

— By Michael MacDonald in Halifax