A humpback whale found floating dead in the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the west coast of Vancouver Island recently is believed to have died after colliding with a ship.
The Cascadia Research Collective (CRC), based in Olympia, Washington, says the 35-foot subadult humpback was discovered Sep. 27, and researchers examined it Oct. 4 near Sekiu, WA.
The CRC says the whale, that whale watch operators referred to as ‘Hawkeye’, had been documented alive on Sep. 22 and was in reasonable health.
A necropsy team determined there was evidence of “pre-mortem blunt force trauma to the head”.
Necropsy team on shore October 4, 2020 working before high tide comes back in. Photo courtesy Kiirsten Flynn, Cascadia Research.
The CRC says the cause of death could not be confirmed due to advanced state of decomposition and to logistical constraints.
“The return of humpback whales to the Salish Sea and their increased use of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, an area of high and increasing vessel traffic coming and going from ports in Puget Sound and southern British Columbia, has made ship strikes of whales a growing concern on both sides of the border,” the CRC said in a release.
CHEK News
