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Fin whale carcass to be studied

updated 11/06/02 posted 11/04/02
NOTE: the whale was a fin whale not a minke as first reported
Whale researchers tracked down the fin whale carcass off of Turn Point at Stuart Island Tuesday, November 5, 2002. The whale had been spotted on Monday. Nick Nash, a commercial fisherman, was scheduled to tow the fin whale to the FHUW lab breakwaters. Dr. Richard Osborne of the Whale Museum said a necropsy will be performed on the whale.

Fin whale carcass to be studied

Photo courtesy of San Juan County Sheriff Deputy Eric Gardiner

posted 11/05/02
NOTE: the whale was a fin whale not a minke as first reported
A fin whale carcass spotted floating in Presidents Channel Monday ( Nov. 4, 2002) will be necropsied if Whale Museum staff can find it. Attempts to secure the whale Monday were unsuccessful. If anyone sees the whale floating out there, they are asked to please call the museum's hotline at 800-562-8832.

Whale Museum Research Director Richard W. Osborne, Ph.D. said, "We will tow it somewhere near-by to perform a necropsy, so we can find out how it died. At the necropsy we will gather as many regional experts as possible to help with the diagnosis. Tissues will go out to multiple laboratories for analysis of everything from viruses to toxic chemicals."

He said usually one or two dead whales are found in the Salish Sea each year but it has been awhile since a large whale landed in the county. "The last one was a gray whale on Lopez in 1998, and before that the Eastsound gray whale in 1995," he said. Albert Shepard's Gray Whale Project uses the 1995 whale.

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