Officials hope dead right whale near Trout River is already documented
Jack Lawson hopes the dead right whale that washed ashore south of Trout River this week is among those of its kind that have already been catalogued.
If not, it would be the ninth of the endangered species to be found dead in the waters off Eastern Canada this year.
The whale found on the shoreline in the Church Cove area of western Newfoundland is believed to have been dead for a long time, said the research scientist with the marine mammals section of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
With only 469 right whales left in the North Atlantic Ocean, the dwindling species can hardly handle any high mortality rates. There have been many photos and samples taken from the eight lifeless whales found floating in the ocean so far this year. Comparisons will be done with the one on the island’s west coast to see if any markings or DNA samples match with what has already been recorded.
Lawson said the images he has seen of the whale so far have not afforded him the chance to determine the whale’s sex, which would also help home in on whether or not the whale is a known specimen.
Given the advanced decomposition of this whale, he said it may also be hard to determine what killed it. From what he has been able to observe so far, he said, there are no obvious wounds to help pinpoint its cause of death.
The right whale is the second beached whale reported in western Newfoundland this week. Lawson said the other one, which washed ashore in the Cedar Cove area of the outer Bay of Islands, appears to be either a humpback or a small fin whale.