Another grey whale has been found dead – this time in the waters of Boundary Bay.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada A/Marine Mammals coordinator Paul Cottrell confirmed with the Delta Optimist Wednesday afternoon that while the DFO Marine Mammal Response Program was out on patrol Tuesday afternoon on another matter, the whale was discovered near the Boundary Bay mud flats.
Cottrell said the whale is female and between 13 and 15 metres long.
"Once we located the whale we were able to secure it and then on Wednesday morning we set up a towing line and the Coast Guard hovercraft was on scene in the afternoon towing the animal to Sea Island for a necropsy on Thursday," said Cottrell. "It's a very big animal. Had we not spotted it when we did it would have likely washed up into the mud flats, which would have made it very difficult, so we were lucky to get it anchored last night. It was a great effort by everyone involved."
Cottrell said this is the sixth grey whale that has been found dead of the B.C. coast this year.
"I've been involved in all six. We have done samples from all six and done full necropsies on four of the animals," he said. "The first was in Sydney, the second was on the west coast of Vancouver Island, the most recent three were in Haida Gwaii and now this is the sixth in Boundary Bay. We're hoping that is the last of it, but given the trend in southeast Alaska and Washington State there is probably more to come."
Despite the somewhat concerning number of deaths, Cottrell said grey whales, in terms of their population, are in fact doing very well.
"In the past two decades their population has significantly increased, so this die off is obviously very concerning, but it also could be a carrying capacity issue because the population has increased so much, so we are looking at all potential causes including that the population may be nearing where it should be," he said.
This article originally appeared here.
