Whale Found In Moriches Bay Likely Died Due To Natural Causes: AMSEAS

WESTHAMPTON, NY — A whale found deceased near Westhampton this weekend may have died due to natural causes, officials said Monday.

The Atlantic Marine Conservation Society responded Monday to a 24-ft long female minke whale that washed ashore on Cupsogue Beach County Park’s ocean side Monday.

AMSEAS worked with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, and Suffolk County Parks to develop a response plan and secure the animal for a necropsy examination that was conducted Monday afternoon, officials said.

Trained responders from AMSEAS collected as much information from the whale before it was buried. The 24-ft female minke whale was very decomposed upon examination, and was not in good body condition. The state of decomposition made a definite cause of death ruling very difficult, although there was evidence of heart issues similar to other cases observed in the New York Bight — an area in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New York and New Jersey — where infectious disease was implicated in other minke whale strandings, AMSEAS said.

Samples collected will be sent to pathologists for analysis, AMSEAS added.

AMSEAS was initially alerted to the whale on Friday via the New York State marine mammal and sea turtle stranding hotline.

The deceased whale was sighted on a sandbar in Moriches Bay; the team was alerted Monday morning that the whale had re-floated and was washing ashore on the ocean side of the park, AMSEAS said.

The minke whale is the eighth large whale that AMSEAS has responded to this year, and the examination is part of an ongoing NOAA Fisheries unusual mortality event for minke whales in the region, AMSEAS said.

Response efforts to large whale species require a significant amount of resources and AMSEAS stranding responders couldn’t do the work without the support of local agencies and
communities, the organization said.

"AMSEAS appreciates the efforts of Suffolk County Parks, DEC, and NOAA Fisheries in providing needed resources for response and development of intervention plans," AMSEAS said.

Additional updates will be provided as AMSEAS biologists continue the whale examination and learn more about the stranding event.

AMSEAS also provided information about minke whales.

- Minke whales are members of the baleen whale family.
- Minke whales in the United States are not endangered or threatened. They are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
- Minke whales have dark, sleek bodies reaching lengths of about 35 feet and weighing up to 20,000 lbs. Their lifespan is up to 50 years.
- Minke whales often engage in lunge feeding behavior at or near the water’s surface, and feed on crustaceans, plankton, and small schooling fish (e.g., cod, herring, mackerel, sand lance, etc.).
- Northern minke whales have a widespread distribution, with their range extending from the Arctic during the summer to near the equator during the winter.
- Minke whales partake in seasonal migrations and travel long distances, feeding in higher latitudes during the warmer, summer months and traveling to lower latitudes for mating and calving during the winter.
- Common threats facing minke whales include entanglement in fishing gear, vessel strikes, whaling, ocean noise, and climate change.
- There is an ongoing unusual mortality event (UME) in effect for minke whales along the Atlantic coast .

As part of the UME investigation process, AMSEAS is working alongside scientists from other organizations in the Greater Atlantic Regional Stranding Network that extends from Maine to Virginia to examine and sample stranded whales, review the data collected, and determine the next steps for the investigation.

Full or partial necropsy examinations have been conducted on more than 60 percent of the minke whales documented within the current UME, with preliminary findings in several of the whales showing evidence of human interactions or infectious diseases. Further investigation is needed as these findings are not consistent across all the whales

Chris DeVivo said he and his wife Caryn were out on their first boat trip of the season when they saw the whale on a sandbar in Moriches Bay about one-eighth of a mile from the inlet.

According to Rob DiGiovanni, Jr. chief scientist at the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, a team convened Monday to perform a necropsy.

The whale was badly decomposed, DiGiovanni said, making the necropsy "problematic". Aerial surveys were also performed Monday, he said.

The whale was also the eighth found deceased in the New York area since January, he said, adding, though, that while the number is higher than normally seen, that number "balances out," from year to year, with last summer "quieter than usual." The average number found in a given year is between 12 and 14, DiGiovanni said.

In December, DiGiovanni said a recent spate of whale strandings on Long Island and in nearby areas was likely due to natural causes, not humans.

A deceased humpback whale first washed ashore in Southampton in December and was then carried out by the storm tides before it was found on the beach in Napeaugue State Park, DiGiovanni said.

The humpback whale's stranding was followed by a Risso's dolphin found in Montauk and a short-beaked common dolphin found in Westhampton Beach, AMSEAS said.

A whale was found in a North Fork creek in November.

A sperm whale was found "struggling" in the surf on Rockaway Beach in December, DiGiovanni said.

AMSEAS thanked the public for reporting the strandings using the New York State stranding hotline and asked people to call 631-369-9829 to report any sick, injured, or deceased marine mammal or sea turtles.