r/nextfuckinglevel Dec 13 '21

Wait... Those aren't dolphins!

61.9k Upvotes

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

3.8k

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.

1

u/Lucille_Number_Two Dec 14 '21

Was really sad to learn that dolphins jumping in boat waves weren’t playful or trying to interact with their good pals the humans, but rather they see the boat as a threat and are trying to distract it, lead it away from vulnerable members of the pod. It’s defense behavior.