DFO investigates sixth dead grey whale found off British Columbia coast
Posted June 5, 2019 5:15 pm.
Last Updated June 5, 2019 5:16 pm.
TSAWWASSEN, B.C. – A sixth dead grey whale has been found off the coast of British Columbia amid an unusually fatal year for the animals.
RELATED: ‘Unusual mortality event’ declared as grey whales appear on West Coast beaches
Department of Fisheries and Oceans crews spotted the dead mature female floating in Boundary Bay near Point Roberts on Tuesday.
A grey whale has been found dead in Boundary Bay. Department of Fisheries and Oceans crews spotted it floating near Point Roberts yesterday (Tuesday).
— Bruce Claggett (@BruceClaggett) June 6, 2019
DFO marine mammal co-ordinator Paul Cottrell says crews attached a line to the whale on Wednesday and used a coast guard hovercraft to tow it to a base on Sea Island in Richmond.
Cottrell says a necropsy will be completed on the animal, which is 13 to 15 metres long and weighs about 20 tonnes.
RELATED: U.S. to investigate spike in grey whale deaths on West Coast
He says it’s the sixth grey whale to die this year in B.C. waters, with the first found near Victoria, the second off the west coast of Vancouver Island and three others found near Haida Gwaii.
Cottrell says the deaths are consistent with what scientists are seeing off the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington and southern Alaska, as the whales migrate north in the spring.
(The Canadian Press)
