A 56-foot-long endangered sperm whale that washed ashore in Hawaii on Saturday most likely died after ingesting trash, including at least six hagfish traps, seven types of fishing net, two types of plastic bags, a light protector, fishing line and a float from a net, scientists said on Thursday.
The dead whale was first observed Friday floating on the reef off Lydgate Beach on Kauai’s east shore, SFGATE originally reported. High tide carried it onto the beach on Saturday, according to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Health and Stranding Lab examine marine debris found inside a dead sperm whale’s stomach.
Large equipment lifted the 122,000-pound carcass from the wet sand to a dry area where researchers with the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Health and Stranding Lab could conduct a necropsy, a postmortem examination. Inside the stomach, the team found squid beaks and fish skeletons, as well as loads of trash that may have contributed to the whale’s death, lab director Kristi West said.
“This mammal had a huge stomach, so we were not able to examine its full expanse, which is why we think that it’s likely there was additional material we didn’t recover,” West said in a news release. “The size of the opening from the intestinal tract into the stomach is relatively small and there is certainly substantial enough volume of foreign objects to cause a blockage. The presence of undigested fish and squid lends further evidence of a blockage. This is the first sperm whale in Hawaiian waters where we have seen this kind of ingestion of discarded fishing gear and nets.”
An excavator gets ready to remove the dead 56-foot-long, 120,000-pound sperm whale from Lydgate Beach on Kauai on Jan. 28.
Courtesy of Hawaiʻi Department of Land and ResourcesResearchers examined the organs and found that only the gastrointestinal tract was disturbed. They also collected swabs to test for potential disease; the results have not been finalized.
Found in the world’s deep oceans, sperm whales are known for their huge heads that hold oil sacs, known as spermaceti. Those sacs, which can contain up to 2,000 liters of oil, made them a target of the commercial whaling industry from the 1800s to 1987 and caused their numbers to plummet. The oil was used in oil lamps, candles and lubricants, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency said the species is still recovering and is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
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