Photos: Large humpback whale gathering off Port Angeles, Victoria

PORT ANGELES, Wash. -- Whale-watching boats have reported unusually large numbers of humpback whales off Port Angeles and Victoria.

"It's humpback heaven out there right now," according to Michael Harris, executive director of Pacific Whale Watch Association said in a news release. "About 20 years ago or so, we never saw humpback whales out there. The last three or four years, our crews started to see them all the time. Now we're seeing them congregate in these large groups, not unlike what you might see in Hawai'i or Alaska. One humpie after another, just an expanse of whales filling the seascape. They're breaching like crazy, pec slapping, rolling at the surface, vocalizing, and most importantly, doing a lot of lunge feeding. They definitely seem to be finding plenty to eat, especially off Port Angeles and Victoria, and that may be a good sign."

Humpback whales migrate from Hawaii, Mexico and Central America to Alaska each spring. The animals, which were once hunted, have been making a comeback .

The association says that researchers believe there are more than 21,000 humpbacks now in the eastern North Pacific, up from about 1,600 when whale hunting was banned in 1966, and there are as many as 85,000 worldwide.

Rhonda Reidy, , a 20-year naturalist, marine educator and captain for Prince of Whales Whale Watching in Victoria, will soon begin a PhD. study on the feeding ecology of the humpbacks in the Salish Sea. She believes the recent boom in humpbacks here may be the result of overlapping events, according to the news release.

"First, as the population of humpback whales recovers to pre-whaling levels the population may be nearing the carrying capacity of the traditional northern feeding areas, with more whales exploring these southern habitats along their migration route," said Reidy, who will be working with the University of Victoria on her study. "Second, their sudden increase may represent shifts in oceanographic and ecological conditions, affecting the local food chain."

The notable absence of Southern Resident killer whales this year is likely a similar concurrent response to changes in this ecosystem, primarily in the distribution and availability of the orcas' main food source, salmon, the whale watching association says.