Gray whales continue to wash up dead and emaciated, but causes remain elusive, scientists say.
“It’s probably just a freak coincidence, but there may be a link,” said Don Weseley, a professor of earth science at the University of Maine and co-leader of the whaling documentary film crew “Whale Wars” that has examined the whale killings since the 1970s. “We’ve seen some very, very poor conditions on the island.”
On Sunday, a large number of dead blue whales and smaller whales washed up on Oahu’s east shore, as many as 100 dead, officials said.
“Every year, it’s the same scene, people are concerned about it,” said Honolulu County public works director Mike White, who said that the county and state police were looking into the deaths.
State Department of Health officials are now investigating the cause of death, looking at a variety of factors.
“For every blue whale that’s washed up on the shore, two are washed up on the way to the ocean,” said Jeff Wood, a marine biologist with the state Department of Health. “Whether it was a mechanical failure, or it was an issue with the carcass being placed in the water and the wind blowing over it” is one possibility, he said.
A larger blue whale washed up Sunday on the west side of Oahu.
Kauai whale killings
Earlier in the week, officials said that a blue whale had washed ashore on the north shore of Kauai, a popular whale-watching town on the island’s southwest side.
One of two blue whales killed by a crewboat on the island Wednesday, the second blue whale ever killed on Kauai, was found to have been shot with a tranquilizer gun, officials said.
And on Sunday, a blue whale calf was killed on the island of Niihau.
Some people living on Hawaii island say whale hunting there is often cruel.
Many believe that the number of blue whales killed and eaten in recent years is out of control, said the Hawaii Wildlife Fund, a nonprofit wildlife advocacy group.
“The biggest single danger is the high number of whale populations,” said Peter Ritchie, a spokesman for the Hawaii Wildlife Fund, who called the recent whale killings “a trend that has been