In this photo provided by the Procuraduria Federal de Proteccion al Ambiente (PROFEPA), shows a boat which collided with a grey whale near the beach resort of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Thursday, March 12, 2015. Mexican authorities said that a 35-year-old Canadian woman has died and two other tourists were injured near the beach resort when a surfacing grey whale crashed onto their boat as they came back from a snorkel tour.
A global organization promoting responsible whale watching is calling the death of a Canadian tourist off the coast of Mexico – when a grey whale came crashing onto a tour boat on Wednesday – a freak accident and unprecedented.
"I was really shocked when I heard about this news. In terms of my personal awareness, I think this is the first time that a whale or dolphin in the wild, as part of a whale-watching trip, has actually accidentally killed somebody," said Dylan Walker of the Britain-based World Cetacean Alliance.
"Bearing in mind, there are 3,300 plus whale– and dolphin-watching companies around the world in over 120 countries and overseas territories who go out to see these animals every day for six months out of 12 months of the year – so a huge amount interaction between people and whales and dolphins," he added.
According to Mexican authorities, the accident happened as a tour boat carrying whale watchers was returning to the resort city of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
"Our thoughts are with the family and friends of a Canadian citizen who passed away in Mexico. Canadian consular officials in Cabo San Lucas are providing consular assistance to the family in this difficult time," said John Babcock, spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.
The Calgary office of WorleyParsons, a resources and energy company, identified the woman who died as one of its employees – Jen Karren. The company said Ms. Karren, who had worked there for six years and was a member of the office services team, would be missed.
"Her colleagues remember her as a positive, friendly teammate who was willing to help out wherever she could. She always spoke kindly to everyone with whom she came in contact," said a company statement that also noted she participated in recent years in the Ride to Conquer Cancer.
An official at the One World Hospital in Cabo San Lucas said Ms. Karren's family left Mexico shortly after she died.
The tour company, Cabo Adventures, provided a statement to The Globe and Mail that says the accident happened near the beach.
"The captain had to make a movement to avoid a whale that surfaced just in front of the boat," the statement said. "The whale hit one side of the boat, which caused two passengers to be hurt and, unfortunately, the death of one other passenger."
The statement issued by Felipe Diez-Canedo, the general director of Cabo Adventures, says the woman was in the water after the collision and the boat returned to her. A guide and another passenger jumped in to rescue her, then returned her to the boat.
"Another passenger on board, confirming that she was a qualified nurse, gave the passenger medical attention and CPR." A naval rescue team took the guest to the marina and continued with first aid, and then paramedics took her to hospital, where she died. One injured passenger has been released from hospital and a second is travelling back to the United States for further medical attention, but does not have a life-threatening injury, said the statement.
"At all times, the injured passengers and their families were accompanies by staff from Cabo Adventures."
Mr. Walker of the World Cetacean Alliance said the whale could not have been acting aggressively. "They don't [show aggression]. The rule is that these animals are just so passive and often come and interact with people – and that's what makes them so fascinating to go and watch," he said.
Whales and larger vessels like cargo ships routinely collide, resulting in serious harm to the whales, Mr. Walker said. But collisions with smaller boats and yachts – although rare – have happened, he added.
In a video from 2010 off the coast of South Africa, a southern right whale is shown crashing onto a small boat and snapping the mast in two. The South African couple on the yacht denied that they had been harassing the whale.
"The fact is that with some of the larger whales, we're talking about animals that are 50 or 70 tonnes in weight and they do leap out of the water," Mr. Walker said.
"Humpback whales will sometimes leap 50 or more times in a row – and when a boat is suddenly popped out in the ocean and the animals are incredibly busy doing something like feeding or mating or socializing, I think there are very rare occasions when they are just almost not aware of the boat," he added.
Walter Flower runs Lunenburg Whale Watching Tours in Nova Scotia. With more than 20 years of experience in whale watching, he has witnessed two collisions – one involving a sail boat and another involving a whale-watching boat belonging to a company no longer in operation.
In both instances, the vessels got too close to the whales during a feeding frenzy – instead of staying on the perimeter, he said.
Mr. Flower recalled one incident 10 years ago involving a frenzy of whales, dolphins and tuna that were feeding on herring.
"This one sailboat shut down and drifted in to the bait ball," he said, "and this 60– or 70-foot fin whale … came up and hit this boat broadside and pushed it right around in a circle," he said. "In my view they were too close – they could have backed off."
Mr. Flower said he follows a "look and don't disturb" approach to whale watching – and if there is a whale within 100 feet, he will never shut off the engine and depth sounder.
"Anything to make yourself visible or audible [to the whale] – you should always maintain that," he said.
And if a whale is breaching close to his boat, he still stay put. "Just to avoid being landed on when a whale is breaching, I've never moved and just sat there and let the thing kind of go by," he said.
Ian Bailey