Published: Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Boat can't budge 30-ton gray whale near Camano Island
CAMANO ISLAND -- Researchers who tried to snag a dead gray whale yesterday floating in the middle of Saratoga Passage had to cut it loose after their boat had trouble towing the 30-ton creature.
“The boat was too small and the whale was too big,” said Howard Garrett, co-founder of the Whidbey Island-based Orca Network.
For three hours, the pilot of a crabbing boat tried to haul the 40-foot long gray whale through the waters off the northwestern tip of Camano Island. The plan was to pull the whale onto a restricted Navy-owned beach on Whidbey at high tide last night, where researchers could perform a necropsy.
The boat moved the massive carcass only about 400 yards in three hours of towing, Garrett said today. Researchers took measurements of the whale and a blubber sample and noted it was a male, before tying it to a marker buoy and setting it loose.
The dead whale briefly washed up on Sandy Point, a Whidbey Island beach about a mile from the town of Langley. The tide pulled it back into Saratoga Passage hours later and researchers thought they’d lost the whale again.
The Orca Network got a call early this afternoon after the gray whale's body was spotted floating off Camano Head. The organization secured the use of a 740-horsepower boat from a Deception Pass tour boat company and they’re on their way now to try again.
Meanwhile, another dead gray whale was discovered floating in Birch Bay near the BP Cherry Point Refinery. Researchers from Cascadia Research in Olympia are preparing to perform a necropsy on that whale.
It’s unusual to find two dead gray whales in the space of a few days, Garrett said.
“It’s probably just coincidence, but the necropsy will tell all.”
“The boat was too small and the whale was too big,” said Howard Garrett, co-founder of the Whidbey Island-based Orca Network.
For three hours, the pilot of a crabbing boat tried to haul the 40-foot long gray whale through the waters off the northwestern tip of Camano Island. The plan was to pull the whale onto a restricted Navy-owned beach on Whidbey at high tide last night, where researchers could perform a necropsy.
The boat moved the massive carcass only about 400 yards in three hours of towing, Garrett said today. Researchers took measurements of the whale and a blubber sample and noted it was a male, before tying it to a marker buoy and setting it loose.
The dead whale briefly washed up on Sandy Point, a Whidbey Island beach about a mile from the town of Langley. The tide pulled it back into Saratoga Passage hours later and researchers thought they’d lost the whale again.
The Orca Network got a call early this afternoon after the gray whale's body was spotted floating off Camano Head. The organization secured the use of a 740-horsepower boat from a Deception Pass tour boat company and they’re on their way now to try again.
Meanwhile, another dead gray whale was discovered floating in Birch Bay near the BP Cherry Point Refinery. Researchers from Cascadia Research in Olympia are preparing to perform a necropsy on that whale.
It’s unusual to find two dead gray whales in the space of a few days, Garrett said.
“It’s probably just coincidence, but the necropsy will tell all.”
Comments
(
