Fish are Friends, Not Food: What Do You Do With a 30-Metre Long Whale Carcass?

Written by Erin Stacey

Thumbnail Photo by Marine Animal Response Society | CBC

Being so close to the ocean offers Saint Mary's University students many opportunities to experience the abundant marine life nearby. Recently, a blue whale washed ashore just 25 km away from Halifax, in the small town of Sambro. Blue whales are considered endangered, especially the population that resides off the coast of Nova Scotia. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature believes an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 blue whales are left in the world. For reference, as of 2016, Truro had a population of 12,261. Could you imagine all the humans left in the world being able to all live in Truro?

With the threat of extinction looming over the species, many conservation efforts have been put in place to help minimize their decline. The biggest dangers to blue whales include ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, and sound pollution. Organizations like NOAA Fisheries and its partners develop and manage plans that make whale-safe shipping practices, plans to minimize the risk of entanglement, and plans that reduce noise pollution. With only an estimated 250 adult blue whales in the Northwest Atlantic, all the help is certainly needed.

To help this species avoid extinction, we need to know all that we can about them. Unfortunately, there is still a lot we don't know. With so few individuals, their inability to live in captivity, and their complicated habitat, they are a difficult species to study. Due to their large size and diet, it is too difficult to replicate their habitat in captivity. Blue whales eat tiny shrimp-like creatures called krill, and they catch them by swimming through large schools of krill to scoop them into their mouths then pushing the water out through their filter like baleen. One blue whale alone can eat 4 tonnes of krill in one day! One of the most prominent challenges researchers face is determining the lifespan of a blue whale. Although researchers can't yet confirm, they theorize that blue whales live to 80-90 years old. This makes it difficult to perform long-term studies as they live longer than most humans!

Many people know that the blue whale is the largest animal in the world, but did you know it is also the loudest animal? They are louder than a jet engine, their calls clocking in at 188 decibels, while a jet engine can get to only 140 decibels. It's no wonder, though, that their calls can be so loud with a standard weight of about 200 tons and a length of 80-100 feet; their heart alone is the size of a Volkswagen Beetle.

It is no surprise that research efforts were quickly on their way when a blue whale carcass washed ashore at Crystal Crescent Beach Provincial Park in Sambro, N.S., on September 9th, 2021. The day before, the whale carcass was spotted by the coast guard off the coast of Sambro. The whale was determined to be a 30-metre long mature female, making it especially sad to learn she was likely in her reproductive years. 

Unfortunately, the whale washed ashore on less than ideal terrain. The area is made up of large rocks and slippery seaweed that made moving around difficult. Members of the Marine Animal Response Society (MARS) were able to do just a surface examination, where they concluded that they did not see any signs of human interaction like a boat strike or fishing gear - though sometimes ship strikes only leave internal damage, which is not visible to the naked eye. The only way to truly determine the cause of death is a necropsy. A necropsy would show if a ship strike killed the whale since internal bruising would be evident. Sadly, it was too difficult to extract the animal to a safe place for a necropsy because of the location. Furthermore, the storm that occurred the two nights after the whale washed ashore, caused by hurricane Larry, pushed the whale further into the rocks and caused damage to the carcass. 

After the storm, MARS managed to safely extract the animal to a spot near the beach parking lot, although it was too decomposed at that point to reconsider the idea of a necropsy. However, samples were still taken to glean helpful information about this whale's life and even the population she lived in. These samples included skin, blubber, baleen, and even an eyeball almost the same size as a human hand! With these samples, researchers can perform hormone analyses to determine her stress levels and see if she had any calves during her life. They can also learn about her death, like whether she had any infections or stressors that could have impacted her health. 

The organization Research Casting International, situated in Trenton, Ontario, requested that the bones be removed. Research Casting International specializes in specimen restoration, casting, and mounting for displays in museums, which they hope they can do for the whale bones here. First, they plan to thoroughly clean the bones by burying them for an entire year in a combination of manure and sawdust compost containing a species of dermestid beetle. After the  beetles remove the flesh, they will pressure-wash the bones and use a degreaser to remove the remaining oils, and then the skeleton will be ready to find its new home in a museum.

Although this situation was full of sorrow, it still has its positives. The blue whale carcass provided a unique opportunity for researchers to learn more about the species and hopefully give further insight into how they are dying and how we can help them. Even whale researchers and students at SMU like Dr. Timothy Frasier took samples from the whale to use in their studies to learn more about the elusive species. And who knows, maybe one day we will see the skeleton in a museum where the whale's life can be preserved for a long time to come. 

Claire Keenan