VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Marine officials say a dead North Atlantic right whale that washed ashore in Virginia Beach earlier this week "suffered a catastrophic blunt force traumatic injury," consistent with a vessel strike.
The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) Fisheries said the whale's body washed up on Aeries on the Bay Park on Sunday. A multi-agency necropsy was performed in the following days to determine how the endangered mammal died.
NOAA said that the necropsy showed the whale's injuries included "multiple vertebral fractures and separations" that would have quickly killed the animal. The whale showed no other obvious signs of illness or injury.
North Atlantic right whales are one of the most endangered whale species in the world, with fewer than 350 whales remaining, and only about 70 breeding females.
Right whales had been spotted in the waters off our coast in recent weeks, with NOAA urging boaters to slow down to avoid hitting them. The non-profit Center for Biological Diversity said vessel strikes and entanglement in commercial fishing gear are the two primary threats to whales.
"This whale’s death is a tragic reminder of the constant danger North Atlantic right whales are facing,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity in a news release. “Right whales desperately and immediately need more protections from vessel strikes and all the other human-caused threats they encounter. Otherwise, this species is likely to go extinct."
Two humpback whales have also been found on the coastline this year so far.
On Feb. 8, crews pulled the other, a young humpback whale, ashore near First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach. NOAA officials said another humpback whale was found in Cape Charles on Feb. 10.
Officials with the Virginia Aquarium said examiners weren't able to determine a cause of death for those two whales.
To read more about current concerns that conservationists have about the declining North Atlantic right whale population, click here.