I spend the majority of my boating and fishing time in MA 11 & 13. I have been seeing Harbor Porpoises for many years. Usually when I have seen them they would be moving lazily along the surface and showing only their dorsal fins.

I have noticed an increase in the frequency of my sightings of these creatures in the last (approx) 10 years. Well about a month ago I witnessed one jump clear out of the water several times. Since then I have seen much more unexpected (by me) behavior exhibited. Last Thursday and Friday I was fishing on a 34' boat with my wife, and a Harbor Porpoise spent quite a bit of time with us. He would swim up close enough to the boat that it was easy to see him clearly. He spent most of his time on our Starboard side, which was the side my downrigger was deployed from. At one time it looked to me like He actually rubbed his nose on my spectra. After spending perhaps 1/2 hour or so with us he moved on.

Fast forward to today, I was fishing by myself in a 14' boat, and I first saw Him jumping and splashing in the midst of a group of trolling, boats about 1/2 mile away, He carried on for at least 1/2 hour. About 1 hour later I had picked up my speed to move up on my troll path against foul current, and He came to visit with me. He swooped along side of my boat on the boats Starboard side pacing me and rolling so as to expose his port side as if He were looking at me. He proceeded to spend more than several minutes quite close to me, within 5' at times, possibly a little closer, and when I slowed back down He seemed to become bored with my program. Then He would cruise ahead of me and circle around getting distance behind me and then jetting by me while doing a couple of jumps, but not very high, and perhaps 15 minutes after I had slowed down to resume my troll he appeared to have had enough of me and my fishing. He then took off in a North Westerly direction doing 5 serious go fast, go high jumps (the last of which was about 1/4 mile away) and all of which he rolled his belly to the starboard side as if He was catching a glimpse of me.

Does anyone out there have any other Harbor Porpoise stories?

I certainly hope that it's not some kind of brain decease that is at the root of this behavior, because he sure does provide a lot of entertainment.

Cool story!

I haven't noticed anything weird about their behavior, but I have noticed that there are more and more of them farther and farther south in Puget Sound every year.

Fish on...

Todd

that is a great experience... if it happens again, try and video it...




Cetaceans are the only true form of intelligent life on this planet

Have also seen a lot more of them in MA 8-2 commonly heading south along the Whidbey side on the outgoing tide. Have wondered if they work the east side on the incoming.

As for the unique behavior makes me wonder if that animal has been rewarded once too often with a herring treat.

Any chance they're Pacific White-Sided dolphins? This guy in MA-11 was my best friend for a half hour on Sunday. He was all over my boat, and eyed me and my gear up pretty closely. I'm glad he didn't eat my lucky sandlance spoon!

http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v672/fishbadger/VID_20140720_090022_556_zps8ef70dbb.mp4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_white-sided_dolphin

Super social critters. . .the doll porpoises are a lot more shy from what I understand,

fb

The ones we regularly see are not Pacific White-sided; too small and no white coloring on them. Regularly see them feeding off west side of Possession bar when we are out there.

Larry B. you could be right but I have never fed him.

fishbadger, after looking at the images that I could find on the interwebs, I conclude that my 'friend' looks more like a Pacific white sided dolphin that a Harbor porpoise, in that the, delineations/graphics or patterns and contrasts between brown to white, (my friend shows no black) look much more like a Pacific white sided dolphin than a harbor porpoise and the behavior that has been exhibited fits better.

I'll be out in the morn looking for a visit, and perhaps a Salmon that I can get to the boat without a seal intercept, and without a rudder.

I did get a couple of shots on my flip phone. I'll try to download tomorrow, after fishing in the morn, while I prepare for my colonoscopy Thursday morn.

A Pacific Whiteside is a dolphin...a big animal, hard to mix up with a porpoise, that's for sure...but they are far more social and approachable than any of our local porpoises.

Fish on...

Todd

Was surfing a couple of weeks ago at Wport and had a pair of dolphins come right up. Not sure what kind they were. It is always kind of cool when they show up, but when you are actually in the water with them you spend a bit longer double checking that the tail fin is horizontal not vertical!

Down in the keys a few weeks back we saw dolphins in water that couldn't hardly cover their back, that was pretty cool.

I once heard someone say "Thanks for all the fish". Remember that

I saw one jump clear out of the water the other day. Looked like a baby? I think Chuck was with me.

It does seem like there are lots more of them. I used to see Dahls Porpoise a lot. Where did they go?

Here's an image I captured yesterday.

That looks like a Pacific Whiteside to me...which explains the playfulness and sociability... that is a damned rare sight in inner Puget Sound, you were lucky to be treated to his company!

Fish on...

Todd

BM,
Nice picture.
The meat rod also brings back lots of memories of fishing Pt Defiance in the 60's and 70's.
SF

Had the same experience minus the acrobatics with a single individual up off Pt. Evans back in mid June. This guy was messing about with the only other boat fishing the area until I pulled up then he started playfully circling me for the next 20 mins. till I left. He followed for a short distance then was gone.

Got some video which I showed to one of the biologists down here in Olympia at the Cascadia Research Collective. They tentatively id'd it as a Pacific Whitesided dolphin which apparently are not real common for the Puget Sound.

Rev Blackmouth's report is about the 5th I've heard of this season between MA 11 and 13. Always just an individual(possibly the same) and always very gregarious and engaging. I frequent these marine areas a couple times a week between May - October for the past many years and this is the first experience I've had. Seem to be seeing an increasing number of harbor porpoises as well. Frankly kind of worried about what this might forbode in terms of ecosystem stability.

Cascadia Research Collective would love to document these encounters if anyone would like to take the time. Obviously video or pictures are preferred. They're on the web.

I contacted Cascadia Research Collective and sent them the image that I posted above, the gal was quite pleased. She said that it was the best identification picture of that individual that they had, and that they appreciate pictures especially those that can be used for identification purposes.