Another October, another strike, another question about speed.

There are corridors in the sea that belong to no nation and no map, routes that whales have followed for longer than any human memory can hold. Howe Sound is one of them. In autumn, humpbacks return to these waters to feed, their massive forms rising through the cold Pacific like slow thoughts surfacing. On Sunday afternoon, one of them met a ferry instead.

The Queen of Surrey, a 139-meter vessel sailing from Langdale to Horseshoe Bay, struck a humpback whale near Grace Point and Keats Island shortly after 1:30 p.m . Passengers felt the impact. Aspen Wing, traveling with her son, said a group of girls shouted that a whale had been nearby, and then her son spotted the injured animal behind the vessel . She watched it blow blood into the air. "To watch that animal in obvious distress was really disheartening and upsetting for a lot of us," she said. "I'm still kind of sick to my stomach about seeing it" .

B.C. Ferries spokesperson Kit Billings said in a statement that the whale surfaced directly in front of the vessel, "leaving the crew with very little time to react" . The ferry was traveling at 16 knots at the time of impact, according to Radio-Canada, compared to its usual 19 to 19.5 knots in that area . The Department of Fisheries and Oceans confirmed two humpbacks were in close proximity to the ferry, and one was struck . A DFO crew was in Howe Sound on Monday searching for the injured whale .

There is a painful familiarity to this. Almost exactly one year ago, on October 23, 2025, a humpback was struck by a whale-watching vessel off Keats Island, in nearly the same waters. A few days later, a four-year-old humpback washed up dead in the same area . The DFO identified that whale as BCY1464, known as Wisp, and opened an investigation . Since then, other strikes have followed: a humpback hit by a Hullo Ferries vessel off Vancouver, a grey whale struck by a person on a Sea-Doo near English Bay, a humpback found dead after being reported hit by a B.C. Ferries vessel in Wright Sound .

Jackie Hildering of the Marine Education and Research Society noted that Howe Sound is well known to be frequented by humpbacks from October through December. "This has to be about prevention," she said. "We want very much for these tragedies to lead to positive change" . The society is pushing for slower vessel speeds in whale habitats. In June, the Northern Expedition route adopted a travel speed of 10 knots, down from 18 knots, after a fatal strike in Wright Sound. Hildering said that speed could still cause a fatality but is far less likely to .

Wing, the passenger, felt the communication on Sunday could have been handled better. "There was no announcement made on the ferry," she said. "It didn't feel like there was a slowdown" . B.C. Ferries said it is cooperating with DFO and that crews receive specialized training in whale awareness and follow protocols to reduce collision risks .

The search for the injured whale continued Monday. Whether it will be found, and in what condition, remains unknown. What is known is that the corridor is busy, the season is not over, and the whales will keep returning to these waters because they have no other map to follow.

The visual content in this article was created with AI generation tools.

Sources: CBC News, Radio-Canada, The Canadian Press, CTV News, The Chronicle-Journal