The second largest animal on earth is a bit of an enigma to scientists. Fin whales don’t have ostentatious jumps or enormous sprays of water announcing their presence. Despite being up to nearly 90 feet in length (dwarfed only by the blue whale), they travel unannounced in deep waters and are often mistaken for smaller species. The whales swim in every ocean, and they have an affinity for British Columbia’s northern coast. Which presents a problem: After being nearly hunted to extinction there, the species has begun to return to the Kitimat fjord system, where Laura Trethewey for Hakai Magazin…