SEATTLE — The Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) released its 2025 Sightings and Sentinel Actions report this week, showing more reported sightings compared to 2024.
That PWWA app received 50,323 reports of whale, wildlife, and protective sentinel actions in and around the Salish Sea. That’s an increase of 12 percent compared to 2024’s 44,933 reports.
Those reports come from researchers, ferry captains, professional ship pilots, emergency response vessels, the Canadian Coast Guard’s Marine Mammal Desk, and the U.S. Coast Guard’s Cetacean Desk.
Biggs killer whales were reported 342 days of 2025, followed by humpback whales on 314 days.
Then there is a bigger drop off for other types of whales, like minke and gray, seen 154 and 147 days of the year.
2025 was also about protective interventions, like stopping other boats from speeding near whales, removing harmful debris from the water, or reporting sick or entangled animals to authorities.
During 2025, there were 1,429 sentinel actions, also up from 2024 by about 100 reports.
68 percent of those actions involved directly contacting other boats. Plus 472 marine debris removals, balloons being the most common.
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This report comes out on the cusp of prime whale watching season for 2026.