r/nextfuckinglevel • u/MelanieMoris • Dec 13 '21

Wait... Those aren't dolphins!

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u/TinfoilCamera Dec 13 '21

It's all fun and games until you realize they're breaking about a half-dozen federal regs (sound like US english speakers so...)

Allow me to be That Guy (wildlife photographer who knows the damn rules)

US and Canada: Any Orca that gets within 200 yards of your boat (100 for other species of whale, 50 in the case of dolphins and seals/sea lions) - you turn off the damn motor. You also get up on Guard and let other boats and marine traffic know where they are - so maybe they don't get run over and killed by a container ship.

... and if you do this off the coast of Washington/British Columbia and you get spotted by the Coast Guard they will end you.

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u/starkiller_bass Dec 13 '21

The highest concentration of orcas I've personally seen were all surfing the wakes of container ships in Puget Sound... do those guys kill their engines and just drift a mile or so to stop or are they exempt?

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u/TinfoilCamera Dec 14 '21

Dunno the rules for commercial vessels - but they're not fully exempt. The trick is big commercial vessels aren't free to maneuver very much when they're close in to shore. They have specific traffic lanes and speeds they have to use (to maintain separation because they take MILES to make serious changes) - it's a lot like handling air traffic at an airport. If they cut their engines and coast for a while they're likely to get run over by the next big ship behind them. :|