Officials from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported earlier this week that dozens of dead whales have been found recently in Alaska, and that the cause of this so-called “unusual mortality event” is unknown.
According to Wired and Mashable, dozens of the deceased marine mammals have been washing ashore along the southwestern coast of Alaska. In fact, 30 whales (or nearly three times the historical average in that region) have died within the Gulf of Alaska since May.
In total, 11 fin whales, 14 humpbacks, one gray whale, and four unidentified cetacean (marine mammal) carcasses have been found, with no explanation yet discovered for the mass deaths. The NOAA, local, state, and federal agencies have launched a formal investigation into the deaths.
Biotoxins from algal blooms may be to blame
While the exact cause of the death remains unknown, scientists do have some theories. Agency officials claim that biotoxins from algal blooms in the western Gulf of Alaska might be the cause.
“We’re monitoring the presence of blooms and the biotoxins in prey and in seafood and keeping track of that as we look into this investigation,” NOAA Fisheries’ marine mammal health and stranding response coordinator Teri Rowles said during a conference call on Thursday, according to Mashable.
However, she noted that the organization was not yet ruling out any potential causes, including the theory that the problem might not be limited to the area around Alaska. Scientists in British Columbia have also found a half-dozen dead large whales in what may be a related incident.
NOAA officials calling on the public for help
A similar large-scale event took place between 1999 and 2001, Rowles said. That event followed the 1997-98 El Nino event and spanned from Mexico to Russia, she noted. More than 700 whales died during that event, and while the NOAA is also uncertain exactly what caused that event, the agency believes that it was environmentally driven.
The NOAA said that these types of mass deaths are difficult to investigate, as many of the corpses they find are either too decomposed to perform necropsies, too difficult for the people investigating the incidents to reach, or too far out to sea to obtain proper tissue samples.
Officials at the agency are asking the public to help with the investigating by contacting the Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network hotline if they encounter a dead or stranded marine creature. The NOAA emphasized that only trained exports are authorized to respond to creatures in distress, and that most people should not touch stranded or floating whales.
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