Minke whale making a splash in Montreal area

For the second time in two years, a whale has been spotted in the Montreal area – hundreds of kilometres away from its usual habitat.

A minke whale off the shore of Parc Jean-Drapeau.

“It’s kind of like amazement, but at the same time, I was confused because I had seen the humpback whale in the general area on YouTube in the past. So every time I pass by there, I always look like, am I going to see a whale? And go and behold there’s a whale,” explained Alain Belso, amateur bird photographer.

On Sunday afternoon, with their cameras in hand, amateur bird photographers Alain Belso and his girlfriend didn’t expect to be pointing their lenses to the St. Lawrence river rather than the sky.

“It came up right beneath me. So I saw this massive thing come up like, wow.”

But why would the whale make such a long journey into a freshwater habitat?

“Why is the hardest question that we know where and when and how? Why we would have to get inside of its head. And all I can tell you is it’s following its nose,” explained Christopher Cameron, professor of biological sciences at Université de Montréal. “I don’t know why it’s here. Perhaps it’s curiosity for some suggesting that it might be lost. Some marine mammals go into freshwater to shed parasites.”

Minke whales are the smallest of the big whales – reaching around eight metres in length.

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While they’re fairly common in Quebec, they don’t generally venture west of the St. Lawrence estuary around Tadoussac, where the water is salty.

“The first report of live minke whales swimming in the old port of Montreal dates back to 1901. But it’s not it’s not a high. It’s not frequent,” said Robert Michaud, Coordinator of Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Response Network.

In 2020, a 10-metre long humpback spent several days near Montreal’s old port – where it delighted onlookers with its acrobatic leaps out of the water.

But it was found dead not long after and likely was hit by a boat.

A team has been deployed to observe the minke whale, but the group says they can’t do much to help besides warning boaters to be careful.

“It’s a risky trip back home for this whale. It’s a busy traffic lane. It’s narrow. It’s not very deep. So let’s hope he heads back soon,” said Michaud.

Like many Montrealers, Belso just hopes it will swim back safely – whale just have to wait and see.

“I’m happy to have seen something different. But at the same time, this poor whale might not see another summer. So hopefully we’ll cross our fingers and it’s going to make its way back into the fleuve. Only time will tell.”