NOAA is investigating a 57.5-foot adult male fin whale found dead on a cruise ship’s bow in Sitka on Sept. 17, the second such case in Alaska this year. The whale was towed to a nearby beach; officials are assessing whether they can perform a necropsy to establish its cause of死.
In late June, a 61-foot pregnant fin whale was found on a cruise ship after it docked in Seward. Further examination of that whale found blunt-force trauma to its ribs, spine and jaw consistent with a vessel strike. Official testing to determine the cause of death can take months.
Fin whales are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act; NOAA says vessel strikes are their greatest threat. NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Law Enforcement is investigating and asks anyone with information to call its 24-hour enforcement hotline. The agency urged people to keep a safe distance and said collecting tissue, baleen or any part of the whale is illegal except for Alaska Native collection for subsistence or use in handicrafts.
