ALASKA-(ENEWSPF)-August 20, 2015. NOAA is declaring the recent deaths of 30 large whales in the western Gulf of Alaska an “unusual mortality event“, triggering a focused, expert investigation into the cause. The agency said the deaths are almost three times the historical average for the region. As of August, 11 fin whales, 14 humpback whales, one gray whale and four unidentified species have been spotted dead in the western Gulf of Alaska.
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One cause that they’ve basically ruled out is radiation exposure.
It’s the first unusual mortality event for whales ever in Alaska, and just the third of any kind in the state. Teri Rowles, NOAA Fisheries’ marine mammal health and stranding response coordinator, told reporters during a teleconference Thursday that large-scale whale deaths are among the toughest to investigate, partly because the carcasses often are floating, rarely beached and hard to access for examination.
“We’re monitoring that and mortalities and the presence of blooms and the biotoxins in prey and in seafood and keeping track of that as we look into this investigation”, Rowles added during a teleconference call on Thursday.
NOAA warns this type of investigation can take years sometimes.
The agency plans to work with colleagues in Canada, where six large whales have been reported dead off the coast of British Columbia since May – five of those this month.
Updates will be posted on a website set up for the unusual mortality event.
Researchers still aren’t sure what caused the 1999 to 2001 event, when more than 700 whales died, but they do believe it was environmentally driven. We’ve been able to do necropsies on two of those animals that were fairly fresh and they were accessible.
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[Scientists are puzzling out the mass death of endangered whales in Chile].
