Three minke whales have been found dead in Maine waters over a six-day period in what marine researchers call an unusual spate of deaths.
Marine mammal researchers from Allied Whale at the College of the Atlantic, which tracks whale strandings and deaths in Maine, responded to the three reports of carcasses between July 30 and Aug. 4. That’s one more than they’d typically expect in an entire summer, said Rosemary Seton, Allied Whale’s mammal stranding coordinator.
While the number of dead minke whales reported is unusually high for such a short period, researchers said the causes of each death do not appear connected and this shouldn’t be cause for concern.
“It just sort of came all at once,” Seton said.
Allied Whale researchers investigate cause of death and collect data for all whale carcasses reported along the coast, and are usually notified well before the bodies reach the shore.
The most recent minke whale carcass washed ashore on Tuesday on Flye Point in Brooklin, located in Hancock County. The 15-foot long young female likely floated across Blue Hill Bay, where it was first reported the morning of Aug. 4, to land in Brooklin, Seton said. Brooklin resident Diane Bianco, whose property was where the whale first was beached, and her family were watching as the carcass came to shore from the bay.
“We all thought it was a capsized small boat, no way did we think this was a whale coming in,” Bianco said.
Thursday night’s high tides took the carcass back out to the bay, and it has now washed up on Tinker Island in Tremont, Bianco said.
That whale likely died from being hit by a boat, Seton said.
“There was propeller lacerations all the way down the left side [of the whale], ” Seton said.
Minke whales aren’t an endangered species, but Seton said the death represents a loss for the minke whale’s population.
“This was a young animal, so you’ve lost that animal and its potential [for reproduction],” Seton said.
That death was among three discovered in the last week.
The first dead minke whale reported this summer was discovered off the coast of Vinalhaven last Sunday, but it was too decomposed for researchers to determine a cause of death, Seton said.
An adult minke whale carcass also washed ashore near the breakwater in Rockland earlier this week. Researchers had responded to reports of its carcass floating along the coast and determined it died due to getting stranded while searching for food.
Minke whales are commonly found off the coast of Maine during the summer because that’s when they migrate here to feed, Seton said.
After getting over the initial shock of the whale washing ashore on her property, Bianco said the next thought was how to remove it.
She’s not alone in being confused about who’s responsible for disposing of whale carcasses, Seton said. Although Allied Whale does often provide input on potential ways to remove the carcasses, the owners of the property where a whale washes up are ultimately responsible for the removal, Seton said.
“If it’s in a public spot, but it’s a quiet spot. then you can just leave it to nature,” Seton said. “Sometimes tides take them off and off it goes to sea to be scavenged by marine critters, otherwise the town might be able to collect it and take it to a landfill.”
