GIG HARBOR — A gray whale that washed up on a Fox Island beach was most likely killed in a collision with a ship, a necropsy showed.
Cascadia Research Collective (CRC) biologist John Calambokidis said Tuesday the emaciated male whale’s health was a mitigating factor but it died from blunt force trauma.
On Monday, biologists with the CRC and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) took blood and tissue samples and examined the whale. It was then towed off the beach and taken to an undisclosed DFW administered beach.
“The best outcome in these situations is for them to decompose naturally,” Calambokidis said.
The whale had washed up on the northwest shore of the island Saturday, directly in front of residences. Letting it decompose there would have created a months-long unbearable odiferous situation for nearby residents.
The 41-foot-long whale was last seen alive in Mayo Cove, near Penrose State Park on the Key Peninsula on March 27, according to Jennifer Becar, a DFW spokesperson.
Calambokidis said the whale may have lost weight from lack of food. Gray whales typically eat benthic arthropods, small creatures that live in shallow water. Because gray whale numbers have rebounded from near extinction, there might be increased competition for food.
“It may have been either searching for a new feeding area short of returning to the Arctic, or may have already been in a debilitated state,” he said. “And that may also have made it more vulnerable to being struck by a vessel.”
As unsettling as the whale’s death might be, the overall news for gray whales is good, Calambokidis said.
“We’re seeing a lower number of strandings (and deaths) this year than we’ve had in recent years,” he said.
The identity of the ship that struck the whale is unknown, Calambokidis said.
