Deceased Whale Found Floating Through Shinnecock Inlet

HAMPTON BAYS, NY — A deceased humpback whale floated through the Shinnecock Inlet and into the bay Thursday, police said.

According to Southampton Town police, the incident took place at 3:58 p.m.; police, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society all responded to help.

The whale was eventually towed out of the bay and back into the ocean, police said. The carcass was secured to the beachfront, west of the inlet, until Friday morning, when Suffolk County was slated to assist with heavy machinery to drag the whale onto the beach, police said.

A necropsy will be performed to determine the cause of death of the whale, prior to the burial of the animal, police said.

According to Andrew Gomez, NOAA public affairs officer for the Greater Atlantic Region, on Wednesday morning, local researchers notified NOAA Fisheries of a dead floating humpback about five miles south of Wainscott.

On Friday, AMSEAS, the local authorized marine mammal response organization, was expected to perform the necropsy.

The whale was not the first found deceased in the area in recent weeks; it marks the ninth reported in the area, according to officials.

A whale found deceased near Westhampton in May could have died due to natural causes, officials said.

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

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 later conducted, 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 were sent to pathologists for analysis, AMSEAS added.

AMSEAS was initially alerted to the whale on 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.

That minke whale found in May was the eighth large whale that AMSEAS 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 andcommunities, 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.

According to Rob DiGiovanni, Jr. chief scientist at the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, the May whale was badly decomposed, making the necropsy "problematic".

He added, though, that while the number of whales found 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.