DANA POINT – Capt. Chris Pica has been on the water for most of his life and said he’s seen more humpbacks whales at this time of year than ever before.

“We used to see maybe one or two sporadically from spring to fall, now we’re seeing huge numbers almost daily,” he said. “In the late 1980s and ’90s you’d never see them. Then in the early 2000s we’d see one or two mixed in with blue whales and fin whales. In just the past few years, they’ve started to increase.”

Pica, 52, of San Clemente has been a whale watch and sport fishing boat captain for Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching for 27 years.

Dana Wharf is Dana Point Harbor’s oldest business and just last week celebrated 45 years.

As of Tuesday, Pica said he and other boat captains have counted 152 large baleen whales so far this year, with more spotted daily. Last year at this same time, 43 were counted.

Pica and Capt. Dave Anderson, who operates Capt. Dave’s Dolphin Safari and Whale Watch from Dana Point Harbor, say this year could top last year’s record-setting tally of 253 whales, which was up 53 percent from the year before.

In 2014, there were 178, and in 2013, just 17 of the behemoths were spotted.

Similarly, researchers off the coast of San Francisco reported this week that they are counting higher numbers also – in some cases logging as many as 30 to 60 humpback sightings a day.

Experts aren’t sure why numbers are increasing but are happy the whales – once a rarity off the California coastline – might become year-round residents.

It could be warmer waters, prey or climate change. Researchers believe the baleen whales are following prey.

There aren’t just occasional sightings of a couple of whales. Captains and boaters are seeing pods.

In 2013, Todd Mansur, a boat captain for Dana Wharf for 30 years, got some of the first looks.

He was amazed when he saw a massive black and white flipper rise out of the sea about two miles off the Dana Point Headlands.Two humpbacks were rolling, throwing their flippers and rubbing up against each other.

One was about 55 feet long, the other was a little larger. Mansur said likely the pair were courting.

His sighting then, was one of less than a dozen Mansur remembers seeing off the coast of Orange County in 30 years.In 2014, a humpback took up residence in the waters off Dana Point and Laguna Beach for several months.

Before 2014, the Orange County coastline was much better known for its blue and gray whale sightings.

But with an increase in sightings come reports of entanglements.

This February, a juvenile humpback, hogtied and struggling off the coast of La Jolla became the first whale successfully disentangled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s disentanglement team that includes Anderson and Pica.The whale had been spotted just a day before struggling off Newport Beach.

In 2015, NOAA reported that there were four humpback whale disentanglement efforts. Ten more whales were spotted but could not be found and helped.

The higher number of humpbacks have also made them victim to ship strikes.

Last August, researchers from The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito reported that a 38-foot humpback whale carcass was found at Esplanade Beach in Pacifica.

Researchers from the center and The California Academy of Sciences discovered that the whale had injuries consistent with a ship strike.

“By examining marine mammals that wash up on our shores, we are able to learn more about how we can prevent future deaths,” said Dr. Shawn Johnson, director of veterinary science at the Marine Mammal Center.

The incident in August happened just after NOAA requested that large ships slow down inside the shipping lanes beyond San Francisco’s Golden Gate to reduce the threat of ship strikes on endangered blue, humpback and fin whales.

Humpbacks feed in colder waters and migrate to warmer climates for mating and calving.

They’re spotted off the Orange County coastline when they go north in search of food or head south to Mexico to mate and give birth.

About 800 humpbacks are found off California in summer, mostly north of Point Conception.

“I would say for sure we’re up this year from any year I’ve ever seen,” Anderson said. “Because this is the third year and it continues to rise I believe humpback whales which used to be found mostly above Point Conception are now regular inhabitants of Orange County.”

Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com or twitter:@lagunaini