B.C. woman fined for paddleboarding too close to orca pod

A B.C. woman has been fined for getting too close to a pod of orcas in Ucluelet Harbour.

More than four years ago, a pod of transient orcas, including two young calves, entered Ucluelet Harbour.

According to witnesses, 40-year-old Christine Jamieson ran down to the dock with a paddleboard and paddled out to see the whales up close and personal.

“My thought goes directly to the wellbeing of the whale and the risk to the individual,” Kirsty Walde with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada said.

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A video taken of the incident was a key part of the evidence in the case against Jamieson who was found guilty of breaching the federal Fisheries Act, and ordered to pay $2,500 in fines for violating the 200-metre buffer zone.

“There’s no life jackets,” Jamieson said.

“These are large and unpredictable animals. And, you know, there there was a great risk for herself and for the whales. And I think just recognizing that these animals are wild animals.”