What’s Happening to Our Whales?
In the state I reside in, we’ve had three deceased whales wash up on the beach in recent days. For many of us, this brings up memories of 1970, when it was decided to remove the carcass of a whale from the beach by blowing it up.
What could possibly go wrong?
Today I read that seven whales have also washed up on the east coast beaches. Two different oceans, roughly the same latitude, and equally confusing. On the east coast there have been 174 whale fatalities since 2016. What is killing our whales?
Ship strikes, predators, offshore wind projects and drilling, entanglement in fishing gear, ingestion of micro-plastics and starvation are just a few of the objects of blame — with or without hard proof.
This habit of dead whales appearing on our beaches as their final resting place is now an official UME, or Unusual Mortality Event. Not a phrase you want to hear/read concerning most anything.
There is a wonderful blog from the Pacific Whale Foundation at https://www.pacificwhale.org/blog/ways-to-save-the-whales/ that lists all…
