Dead Whale Found In Lubec Raises Questions About Rising Mortality Rates For Humpbacks

ALLIED WHALE, COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC

A dead humpback whale is floating in a Lubec cove. Scientists are eager to find the cause of its demise, as the discovery comes at a time of increasing mortality rates for the species.

People who have seen the whale estimate that it’s about 26 feet long. Ralph Dennison is the Lubec Harbormaster. He visited the shore at Boot Cove, near Quoddy Head, to get a view of the animal.

“It was just starting to get kind of bloated,” Dennison says. “It had a seagull on it, starting to eat some of the carcass, and there was some eagles flying around, and bits of it starting to wash to shore. That wasn’t pretty but that’s the way nature is I guess.”

Dennison, who also captains a whale watch boat, says judging from the large size of this whale’s pectoral fins, it was likely a humpback.

Visit Maine Public for the full story.