Dead Whale Found in Oakland Estuary Towed Away, Necropsy Planned Friday

Photos courtesy of the Marine Mammal Center

By Bay City News Service

A dead whale found floating in the Oakland Estuary Wednesday was towed away this morning, authorities said.

The U.S. Coast Guard notified the National Marine Fisheries Service of a stranded whale floating in the estuary at about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to the fisheries service.

The whale was found in the waters near Mariner Square Marina in Alameda, an employee at the marina said.

A research biologist from the Marin Headlands-based Marine Mammal Center collected samples from the carcass, but because of the whale’s positioning, the researcher could not definitively determine its species, which appears to be a larger baleen whale such as a blue or fin whale, center officials said.

The Coast Guard collaborated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin towing the whale around 5 a.m. Thursday, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Barry Bena.

The whale was towed to an undisclosed location, where scientists plan to perform a necropsy Friday to determine the cause of death, Marine Mammal Center officials.

The center received reports earlier this week of a whale carcass that fell off the bow of a large ship in the Bay, and researchers will try to identify whether the carcass found in the estuary is the same whale.

The dead whale is the latest of several that have turned up in the Bay Area, including three found on the shores of Pacifica since April.

In 2015, The Marine Mammal Center has responded to six stranded whales, including:

• Pygmy sperm whale, Point Reyes National Seashore, January 2015 — Cause of Death: currently awaiting histology reports
• Sperm whale, Pacifica, April 2015 — Cause of Death: Unknown
• Orca, Fort Bragg, April 2015 — Cause of Death: Entanglement
• Humpback whale, Pacifica, May 2015 — Cause of Death: Trauma consistent with ship strike injuries
• Gray whale, Sonoma, May 2015 — Cause of Death: Unknown
• Humpback whale, Pacifica, August 2015 — Cause of Death: Trauma consistent with ship strike injuries

The whale found Wednesday is the first discovered in the Bay itself this year.

“Every whale stranding is an important opportunity to learn more about these creatures, and how we can prevent future deaths,” Dr. Frances Gulland, senior scientist at the Marine Mammal Center, said in a statement.

“With an increase in worldwide shipping, deaths from ship strikes will become more and more of a problem. Locally we must identify a solution that both works for shipping companies and keeps whales safe,” Gulland said.