Dead whale in Wilmington port had gear in mouth, throat

• A young humpback whale found in the Port of Wilmington last week is believed to have died because it was entangled in fishing gear.
• The whale's carcass was to be sealed in a trash bin by Miller Environmental Group and transported to a suitable burial site.
• The whale had a significant wound in the mouth resulting from the presence of the line/rope.
• The gear was lodged in the animal's throat.

A young humpback whale found in the Port of Wilmington last week is believed to have died because it was entangled in fishing gear, according to the executive director of the Lewes-based Marine Education, Research & Rehabilitation Institute.

MERR officials said Friday they found fishing gear tangled around the dead whale's pectoral fins. But after the whale was examined, responders discovered more fishing gear that had injured other parts of the animal.

"We determined that the whale had a significant wound in the mouth resulting from the presence of the line/rope and that the gear was lodged in the animal's throat, undoubtedly causing significant pain and inhibiting the animal's ability to feed properly," said Suzanne Thurman, the organization's executive director. "We also collected morphometrics, life history, genetics, photo i.d. and biotox samples from this animal."

The entangled gear was collected and is being sent to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Law Enforcement, Thurman said.

Once in possession of the gear, NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement will inspect it to see if it was properly labeled and see who owned the gear. This will help officials identify how the whale became entangled in the gear and what action needs to be taken. The actions can be anything from educational instructions to prosecution, said Allyson Rogers, an office spokeswoman.

Fishing gear and nets are the single biggest killer of whales, dophins and porpoises around the world, according to Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a global charity dedicated to the conservation and protection of whales and dolphins.

The organization estimates that more than 300,000 cetaceans die each year after getting tangled in fishing equipment. Whales chasing their prey run into the ropes, which get caught in their mouths. Once trapped, the whales experience a long, slow death because of lack of oxygen or sustain multiple injuries as they struggle to escape.

Entanglement also hinders the recovery of endangered whales along the East Coast, especially North Atlantic right whales, scientists warn.

In June, the New England Aquarium in Boston received a $180,000 research grant to develop a rope that would be strong enough for the commercial fishing industry but not so strong that whales could get trapped. A recent study by aquarium researchers found that if the industry supported using this type of equipment, entanglements resulting in death or serious injury would fall by 72 percent.

In Wilmington, the female humpback, which measured about 29 feet long, was found floating in the port early Friday and remained in a berth most of the day as it was close to a ship that was being loaded and couldn't immediately be moved, Thurman said.

"That was quite an unusual set of stranding circumstances," she said. "We had to wait for the ship to pull out of the berth before we could secure the whale and remove it from the water."

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A team of rescue divers was finally able to enter the water Friday and place straps on the whale, which was estimated to weigh about 30,000 to 40,000 pounds. Wilmington firefighters then towed the whale out of the berth and port officials pulled the whale from the water with a crane.

"This, of course, took some time, and the whale was finally landed at about 4:30 p.m. [Friday]," Thurman said. "We had very little daylight left and due to the impervious surfaces at the port, the area became slippery and hazardous to my responders, so we were only able to do a minimal necropsy – a whale necropsy can take 1 to 2 days to complete."

A necropsy is an autopsy performed on an animal.

Thurman said there is a lot of paperwork and data pertaining to the incident, as well as samples to diagnose. "So there still could be some subsequent findings," she said.

The whale's carcass was to be sealed in a trash bin by Miller Environmental Group and transported to a suitable burial site. The burial was to take place Tuesday, she added.

"Despite the challenging circumstances, we were very pleased with the professionalism and cooperation of all entities involved," Thurman said. "The Port of Wilmington staff were great to work with, as was the Wilmington Fire Company crew and the team from Miller Environmental. It was a very successful team effort."

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.