A Nanaimo-based whale-watching company says it wasn\u2019t sure the humpback would survive the winter after two entanglements last summer.<\/p>\n
A Vancouver Island whale-watching company says it\u2019s \u201cecstatic\u201d that a twice-entangled humpback whale has been spotted near Galiano Island and seems to be doing well.<\/p>\n
The whale, dubbed Starry Knight, hadn\u2019t been seen since last September, Vancouver Island Whale Watch said, but was finally spotted this past week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith how intensive their previous entanglements were, it was hard to tell if they would survive the winter,\u201d said Cheyenne Brewster of the Nanaimo-based company.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Over 60 metres of line was removed.<\/p>\n
Starry Knight was found entangled again on Aug. 21 in the same area.<\/p>\n
When the whale was once again freed, it was determined to have suffered serious damage along its flukes and peduncle \u2014 a muscular area between the tail flukes and dorsal fin.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The company said humpbacks can be identified by the unique markings on the undersides of their tail flukes.<\/p>\n