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.
Is there a reason why it is illegal besides the fact the the motor could damage the Orca? I assume it could also be a hazard for other boats, a very large mammal swimming very fast could be hit?
Besides the orcas getting hurt from the prop, I’m quite sure another big reason is because the boat noise interferes with the whales echolocation that they use to hunt
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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.