Fishing gear and plastic-bag pieces are found in dead whale in Keys
Biologists conducting a necropsy on a sperm whale that beached itself in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico in the Florida Keys said they found man-made materials that were in the mammal’s stomach and likely contributed to its death.
The adult male was one of two sperm whales that died in Keys waters within seven days. The other was a newborn calf that became separated from its mother off Key Largo on May 4.
Both deaths are under investigation, but state and federal scientists say they don’t initially appear to be related.
Carlisle Jones, spokeswoman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said the whale that died Tuesday — a 47-foot adult male — “had a mass of intertwined line, net pieces and a plastic-bag type of material in its stomach.”
The items were found Wednesday by the state agency and federal biologists conducting the necropsy, an animal autopsy, on the large mammal on the docks of Robbie’s Marina in Stock Island near Key West. A boat-towing company took the whale there the day before from where it was found off Mud Key, an island about 15 miles northeast of Key West.
“The debris likely did not allow the whale to eat properly, leading to its emaciated condition and stranding,” Jones said Thursday.
Scientists, however, still need to conduct more diagnostic analysis on the tissue samples collected from the whale during the necropsy to confirm the exact cause of stranding and death, Jones said.
“The material collected from its stomach will also be sent out to determine its type and where it may have originated from,” Jones said.
Sperm whales are listed as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act and “depleted” under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
They mostly live and hunt in very deep water, however, so it’s rare to see them near shore in the Keys where the water is typically shallow. And when they are spotted there, that’s usually a sign they are sick or in distress.
Anyone who sees an injured or dead whale should keep a safe distance from the animal and call 877-942-5343 (877WHALE HELP), said NOAA Fisheries spokeswoman Allison Garrett.