![\"Big](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/75164a9b-1aaa-4797-abc6-7e1c84472edc-1.BigMamareturnstotheSalishSea.JeffFriedmanMayasLegacyPWWA.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nSTUART ISLAND, Wash. \u2014 Whale watchers are celebrating the return of a well-known humpback whale affectionately known as \u201cBig Mama.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) said the beloved whale safely returned from its winter migration after swimming roughly 3,000 miles from Hawaii to Boundary Pass in the Salish Sea, where she was seen near Washington’s Stuart Island on Monday.<\/p>\n
According to the PWWA, Big Mama played a key role in the recovery of humpback whales in the Salish Sea.<\/p>\n
Due to commercial whaling, humpbacks disappeared from the Salish Sea by the early 1900s.<\/p>\n
Though the practice was later banned, sightings of humpback whales in the Salish Sea were rare for decades, the PWWA said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Big Mama returns to the Salish Sea. (Courtesy Jeff Friedman, Maya’s Legacy – PWWA)<\/p>\n
But in 1997, the whale, later nicknamed Big Mama, was photographed in Victoria, BC. She has continued to return to the Salish Sea and has been seen nearly every year since.<\/p>\n
The PWWA says Big Mama not only feeds in the Salish Sea, but has also introduced her calves to the area. She was photographed with her first-known calf, \u201cDivot,\u201d in 2003, and so far has had a total of eight offspring. Some of her calves have had their own calves and grandcalves, making Big Mama\u2019s lineage at least 20 whales.<\/p>\n
According to NOAA Fisheries, humpbacks can live for 80 to 90 years.<\/p>\n
The migratory species feed in cooler waters in the spring, summer and fall and travel to warmer locations such as Hawaii, Mexico, and Central America to breed or give birth in winter.<\/p>\n
Humpback whales are migratory species – feeding in cooler waters during the spring, summer, and fall and traveling to warmer locations such as Hawaii, Mexico, and Central America to breed or give birth in the winter. <\/p>\n
“In the coming months, many more humpback whales will return to Washington waters where they\u2019ll feed on small fish and crustaceans through the fall. Boaters in Washington are reminded to be vigilant and maintain at least 100 yards of distance from humpback whales,” the PWWA said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STUART ISLAND, Wash. \u2014 Whale watchers are celebrating the return of a well-known humpback whale affectionately known as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-627531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}