Last Saturday, a juvenile fin whale that had been floating in Commencement Bay since Friday was towed to Spring Beach so biologists could perform a necropsy.

Local scientists determined the young male died after being struck by a shipping vessel while feeding. According to a report on the Cascadia Research website, the whale appeared otherwise healthy and had been feeding on large amounts of krill shortly before its death.

The report goes on to state that on the morning of Friday, May 12, a shipping vessel reported a whale had dislodged from its bow as it came into the Tacoma area. The 52-foot whale was believed to have been struck in the mid-back near the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Fin whales are an endangered species still recovering from commercial whaling and are the second largest of all whale species. Cascadia Research officials say the whales appear to be especially susceptible to vessel collisions as this whale represents the 12th to be stranded in Washington since 2002. Ten of those had evidence of pre-mortem blunt force trauma attributed to being struck by large ships.

This is the third whale stranding in the region in the last 10 days.

For more information about this most recent whale or other strandings, see

cascadiaresearch.org.