ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – How a fin whale died last week in the waters near Seward is being investigated with some advocates calling for slower speeds for cruise ships.<\/p>\n
The carcass of the 61-foot adult female fin whale, which was pregnant based on initial findings<\/a>, was discovered on the bow of a cruise ship on Friday before being towed to a beach in Seward for a necropsy, NOAA Fisheries said Sunday in a statement posted to social media. <\/p>\n NOAA is working with Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward to perform a necropsy.<\/p>\n \u201cShip strikes are already a leading cause of whale mortality in U.S. waters and the threat is growing,\u201d Rick Steiner, a marine ecologist and Chair of PEER\u2019s Board of Directors said. \u201cSimply put, many of our busiest coastal shipping routes are death traps for whales.\u201d<\/p>\n The cruise ship involved was the Royal Caribbean vessel Ovation of the Seas. <\/p>\n Steiner says ships can go anywhere from 22-24 knots, but the industry should adopt a slower speed of 10 knots or less during the day and 8 or less at night. <\/p>\n \u201cThe cruise ships, they\u2019re here to show people whales and scenery and it\u2019s doubly ironic, or negligent of them, not to take every measure possible to protect the whales that are their bread and butter of their industry,\u201d Steiner said. \u201cBut due to their hubris and corporate recalcitrant state, they just have not been willing to adopt a voluntary vessel speed reduction in these critical whale areas.\u201d<\/p>\n The Journal of Marine Biology reports <\/a>that 108 reported whale-vessel collisions in Alaska from 1978\u20132011, of which 25 are known to have killed the whale.<\/p>\n An email to the company asking how fast the ship was going wasn\u2019t answered. Instead, a spokesperson responded with a previously released comment, stating \u201cWe are saddened to hear that one of our ships struck a whale while on its way to Seward. We take any impact to marine ecosystems very seriously. The ship immediately reported the incident to the proper authorities. We are cooperating fully with NOAA and are awaiting the necropsy results.\u201d<\/p>\n Whale strikes aren\u2019t uncommon, but are often not fully reported out about regarding how, when, where and why a whale was struck along with a number of other variables. <\/p>\n In this case, it hasn\u2019t been determined if the whale died because of a collision with the vessel, was already dead before becoming lodged on the ship, or whether other factors contributed to its death.<\/p>\n According to the International Whaling Commission, \u201cover 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises are killed globally each year due to incidental bycatch and entanglement in industrial fishing gear, including trawlers.\u201d<\/p>\n