B.C. woman fined for paddleboarding too close to orca pod

A B.C. pistillate has been fined for getting excessively adjacent to a pod of orcas successful Ucluelet Harbour.

More than 4 years ago, a pod of transient orcas, including 2 young calves, entered Ucluelet Harbour.

According to witnesses, 40-year-old Christine Jamieson ran down to the dock with a paddleboard and paddled retired to spot the whales up adjacent and personal.

“My thought goes straight to the wellbeing of the whale and the hazard to the individual,” Kirsty Walde with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada said.

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A video taken of the incidental was a cardinal portion of the grounds successful the lawsuit against Jamieson who was recovered blameworthy of breaching the national Fisheries Act, and ordered to wage $2,500 successful fines for violating the 200-metre buffer zone.

“There’s nary beingness jackets,” Jamieson said.

“These are ample and unpredictable animals. And, you know, determination there was a large hazard for herself and for the whales. And I deliberation conscionable recognizing that these animals are chaotic animals.”