While many cruise ship passengers expect to catch glimpses of whales and dolphins swimming in the sea, most passengers do not expect to see an impaled whale stuck to the bow of their ship. But earlier this week, passengers, tourists and onlookers saw just that.
Collision
Early in the morning of July 25, 2009, a female fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus, was discovered lodged on the bow of a massive cruise ship as it was preparing to dock in the Canadian port of Vancouver. The Sapphire Princess, owned by Princess Cruise Lines, issued a statement that read, in part:
“We were shocked and saddened by this discovery, and sincerely regret the circumstances which led to the whale’s death.” According to the statement, the company was unaware of any whale sightings in the area and have “strict whale avoidance procedures in place when our ships are in the vicinity of marine life.”
It is believed the impact occurred somewhere between the north end of Vancouver Island and Alaska. Once the whale was discovered, the Canadian Coast Guard and Department of Fisheries were notified and the 70-foot long mammal was moved to the Institute of Ocean Sciences for a necropsy.
Necropsy
Preliminary results from the seven-hour procedure revealed the whale may have been ill. She apparently had no food in her belly and had a thin layer of blubber. According to Paul Cottrell, marine mammal coordinator for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, it is unknown if the whale died from the impact of the cruise ship or was already dead. Final results of the necropsy are expected within the next few weeks.
Fin Whale
Known for its fast speed, the fin whale is often called the “greyhound of the sea.” Listed by the ICUN Red List as endangered, it is estimated less than 30,000 fin whales remain in the world today. Threats to the whale include entanglement in fishing gear, hunting, reduced prey and habitat degradation.
According to the Large Whale Ship Strike Database, injuries and deaths from ship collisions is a “significant threat” to whales, with finback whale strikes being the highest.
The whale will be buried at sea.
Impact photo courtesy of Eyesplash Mikul on Flickr via Creative Commons license.
Fin whale photo courtesy of BingoBangoGringo on Flickr via Creative Commons license.
Were the Japanese & Scandanavians on board cheering?
Sad that it died however it happened. Sorry if this sounds weird but how does a whale get “buried at sea”? Do they just dump it back out there, weight it down first, or what? Don’t mean to be crass but that statement sounded odd to me for some reason.
…because they may have well decided that this natural death of a natural creature needs to be absolved by putting several tons of dirt on top of it? People are stupid, and they always have been – this FARCE is the equivalent of me burying my daughter’s dead hamster. No purpose beyond consoling those who do not understand what is happening, a tremendous waste of time for those that do. If you’re going to steam across the oceans at thirty knots, then there WILL be dead things on your bow when you decide to look and/or stop. Car manufacturers have long designed windshields to provide maximum squished-bug-removal efficiency. If boat manufacturers cannot understand this concept, they do not deserve money from educated customers.
I hope they take this opportunity to also tell the world the level of mercury in the whale as well. Go see http://www.thecovemovie.com/ Time for all in the world to start caring more and demanding that we treat our cetaceans brothers better.