A fin whale washed ashore in St. George, Pribilofs, Alaska.
Dennis Lekanof , BeringWatch Island Sentinel Program writes,
A large approximately 60 ft. (18.2 meters) whale was seen on the north shore beach of St. George on February 2, 2016. The quick reporting of this whale by St. George community members facilitated response from researchers to document the stranding.
Ecosystem Conservation Office Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Consult:
Lauren Devine, BeringWatch, writes, Although this dead whale sighting falls outside the boundaries of the Gulf of Alaska, its cause of death is of particular interest. Researchers in the NOAA stranding network are attempting to necropsy and collect samples from this individual to determine cause of death, but are in a race against time as flights to St. George are sporadic due to inclement weather and the whale is stranded in a difficult to access location on the north side of the island and is not yet secured.
This event adds to a growing number of dead whale sightings that are part of the 2015 Gulf of Alaska Large Whale Unusual Mortality Event or UME. A UME is defined under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 as a stranding event that is unexpected, involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population, and demands immediate response. Source: NOAA
For more information on whale strandings in the Bering Sea Aleutian Islands region, visit BeringWatch
LEO says:
Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Fin Whale - The fin whale population was decimated by commercial whaling in the 1800s and early 1900s. It was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Conservation Act, the predecessor to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), in 1970. When the ESA was passed in 1973, the fin whale was listed as endangered throughout its range. It is also designated as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). M. Tcheripanoff
For general information on Fin Whale, see the Wildlife Notebook Series entry for Fin Whale (PDF 54 kB).
