Sea-Doo strikes grey whale near Vancouver seawall, whale appears unhurt

A Sea-Doo hit a grey whale in Burrard Inlet near Vancouver’s seawall, a jarring collision captured on video by Kevin Connolly and watched from one of the city’s busiest waterfront stretches. The strike happened close to Stanley Park on Monday, May 4, putting a fast-moving personal watercraft into the same narrow inshore space used by whales, boaters and sightseers.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada investigated after the collision and assessed the animal for injuries on Tuesday. The whale, a grey whale, appeared to be in good condition and was still acting normally after the impact. The federal department’s assessment eased immediate fears for the animal, but the video renewed questions about how well marine protection rules are being followed in crowded coastal waters.

The incident brought the Marine Mammal Regulations back into focus. In Canada, people are supposed to keep at least 100 metres away from whales, dolphins and porpoises, and 200 metres away from resting whales or whales with calves. Disturbing a marine mammal can include feeding, swimming or interacting with it, moving it, enticing it to move, separating it from its group or going between it and a calf. Violations can lead to fines.

The collision also landed against a backdrop of unusually intense attention on grey whales around Metro Vancouver. A whale nicknamed Little Patch was seen near English Bay and West Vancouver in spring 2025, and a rare grey whale sighting drew attention in Vancouver’s West End earlier this week. At the same time, the B.C. coast has been dealing with a separate run of whale mortality stories this spring, including grey whales washing ashore on Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii.

That mix of sightings, deaths and close encounters has sharpened the debate over whether current safeguards are enough in heavily trafficked waters where recreational boats, tourism traffic and marine mammals overlap. The Burrard Inlet strike did not appear to injure the whale, but it showed how quickly a routine outing can turn into a dangerous collision when speed meets a shoreline crowded with wildlife.