A Nanaimo-based whale-watching company says it wasn’t sure the humpback would survive the winter after two entanglements last summer.
A Vancouver Island whale-watching company says it’s “ecstatic” that a twice-entangled humpback whale has been spotted near Galiano Island and seems to be doing well.
The whale, dubbed Starry Knight, hadn’t been seen since last September, Vancouver Island Whale Watch said, but was finally spotted this past week.
“With how intensive their previous entanglements were, it was hard to tell if they would survive the winter,” said Cheyenne Brewster of the Nanaimo-based company.
Starry Knight was first found caught up in fishing line on July 16, 2025, before experts from the Whale Museum and the Cascadia Research Collective were able to free it.
Over 60 metres of line was removed.
Starry Knight was found entangled again on Aug. 21 in the same area.
When the whale was once again freed, it was determined to have suffered serious damage along its flukes and peduncle — a muscular area between the tail flukes and dorsal fin.
Another humpback that was recently disentangled, known as Pop Tart, has also been seen in the same area, which Vancouver Island Whale Watch shows how important the area is as a feeding habitat for the whales.
The company said humpbacks can be identified by the unique markings on the undersides of their tail flukes.