They were once considered vermin of the sea — with the government even mounting a machine gun in Campbell River on Vancouver Island to stop them from getting at salmon stock.

Now, orcas command awe and inspire protection in the region.

University of Victoria historian Jason Colby traces the history of how the perception of killer whales has changed in B.C. over time in a new book, inspired by his own personal family history.

"My father participated in several live captures on both sides of the border in the 1970s," Colby said.

"As I grew up, I watched him wrestle with the meaning of that and some of the pain and some of the guilt especially as killer whales became more and more iconic in the region."

A harpooned orca arrives at Burrard Dry Dock in Vancouver in July 1964. (Courtesy of Terry McLeod.)

In Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator, Colby includes the stories of many others who also worked in the industry in the Pacific Northwest, and who witnessed the changes in perception about orcas during the latter half of the 20th century.

"In the course of the captures, many of them found themselves really impacted emotionally by the experience," he told Stephen Quinn, the host of CBC's The Early Edition.

Nonprofit group Whale Sanctuary Project wants to relocate whales in captivity to an ocean pen where they can live out the rest of their lives in an environment close to their natural habitat. (Courtesy of Ted Griffin)

"The most eye opening and rewarding part of this [book-writing] process was having these people open their lives to me and talk about the transformations and a lot of the pain associated with that."

The calls the orcas made as they were being captured haunted many of those involved for decades, he said. Learning more about the relationship between orcas and their pods, and how few of the animals are left in the region, drove home for many the impact of capturing cetacean creatures.

Former Seattle aquarium owner Ted Griffin casts a hoop net in Penn Cove, Washington, August 1971. (Courtesy of Washington State Archives.)

"We've gone from seeing wildlife and the environment itself in this region as primarily, if not entirely, a source of commodity and extraction to really thinking about this as a living ecosystem that we need to care for," Colby said.

To listen to the full interview with Jason Colby about his new book, click on the audio link below:

With files from The Early Edition.