17-04-2025
Humpback whale deaths increasing on the east coast
COROLLA, N.C. (WAVY) – The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is seeing an uptick in humpback whales washing up on shores.
On Thursday, April 10, a dead juvenile humpback whale washed up on Corolla Beach.
Previous Coverage: Dead juvenile humpback whale washes up on Corolla Beach
Officials with Jennette's Pier said she weighed approximately 60,000 pounds and was 33 feet, 7 inches long. They did a necropsy and they are still working to determine a cause of death.
Victoria Thayer, the North Carolina Marine Mammal Stranding Coordinator, said they found evidence of blunt force trauma on the whale, but they cannot say that was the cause of death until some more tests are processed.
Thayer said there has been an increase in humpback whales washing up on shores in recent years and a large number of them have been found to have trauma caused by humans.
'On the average, four to five humpback whales strand a year along the South Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Florida. This is the seventh humpback that's stranded this year in South and North Carolina combined.'
She specified that not every one of those whales were examined due to varying levels of decay, but of the whales that were examined, about 40% had evidence of human interaction, either vessel strike or entanglement.
Thayer said humpbacks are under an unusual mortality event, something that NOAA has been tracking since 2016 when the numbers began noticeably increasing.
When it comes to preventing incidents such as this, Thayer said the best thing vessels can do is stay away when they spot a whale.
'Some whales, like the North Atlantic Right Whale, don't have dorsal fins so they're very hard to see at the surface. They can be just below the surface,' she said. 'If [vessels] stay under 10 knots in areas where you see whales, if vessels could do that, that would be really helpful and maybe help prevent injury to the whale and injury to the boats also, or ships.'
Thayer said one challenge they faced when performing the necropsy on the whale that was found Thursday, was that it was already somewhat decomposed, so there were some organs they could not examine because of the level of decomposition. She said that the sooner people report the finding of a dead animal, the sooner they can respond and the more they can learn.
'The sooner we can get to these individual animals, the more information we can learn from them, and we appreciate public input and interest.'
To report marine mammal strandings, injuries and entanglements, depending on where you are, call one of the 24/7 hotline numbers below:
OBX Stranding Hotline: 252-455-9654
Central NC Coast Stranding Hotline: 252-241-5119
Southern NC Coast Stranding Hotline: 910-254-5713
For more information about the humpback whale unusual mortality event, click here.
The full interview with Victoria Thayer from the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is available below:
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