Sperm whale washes up in Hawaii filled with nets, plastic bags and fishing line

On Saturday, January 28, heavy gear was used to get it onto the seashore the place researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Health and Stranding Lab spent 15 hours looking for clues about its loss of life. Because of the whale’s dimension, their preliminary examination of the whale was restricted.

“A major finding was the number of manufactured items in the whale’s stomach,” Dr Kristi West, the Health and Stranding Lab Director, stated.

“In addition to squid beaks, fish skeletons and other prey remains, we found at least six hagfish traps and we also found significant amounts of at least seven types of fishing net, at least two types of plastic bags, a light protector, fishing line and a float from a net.

“We did discover a lot of issues within the abdomen of the sperm whale that will have contributed to its loss of life and are actually disturbing.”

West added: “The presence of undigested fish and squid lends additional proof of a blockage. This is the primary sperm whale in Hawaiian waters the place we’ve got seen this sort of ingestion of discarded fishing gear and nets.”

“We are solely in a position to study a small variety of our dolphins and whales that die in our waters, and we expect that every particular person we’re in a position to study represents as lots of 20 different animals, who’re prone to in the end die from these kind of impacts. It’s heartbreaking to see this sort of destruction in a person animal,” West said.

Researchers also found Monofilament fishing line in the whale, with three flies tied to it, which suggests all of the pollutants the whale swallowed did not originate in the ocean but came from land as well.

Massive, male sperm whales transit the ocean over thousands of kilometres, so there’s no way to tell where the materials originated.

“This mammal had an enormous abdomen, so we weren’t in a position to study its full expanse, which is why we expect that it is seemingly there was extra materials we did not recuperate,” West said.

“The dimension of the opening from the intestinal tract into the abdomen is comparatively small and there may be actually substantial sufficient quantity of international objects to trigger a blockage.”

The preliminary examination on Kaua’i was possible because of the collaborative efforts of the County of Kauaʻi and the Office of the Mayor, DAR and the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife, NOAA’s Pacific Islands Regional Office, and cultural practitioners.