According to Jim Oswald, communications manager for the Marine Mammal Center, the gray whale that washed up on Pescadero State Beach earlier this week was a one to two-year-old female.  The Center got a call to examine the whale on Saturday, June 11, and went down to perform the necropsy the following day. Judging by its condition, the whale had died relatively recently, although its exact date of death cannot be determined.

Oswald reported that the Marine Mammal Center’s veterinarian found signs of hemorrhaging that indicated the 25-foot whale had suffered trauma to its head and thorax.  These are physical indications that it is possible that the whale died as a result of a boat strike, but there is no way to determine conclusively whether the trauma occurred before or after the whale’s death.

The blue whale that washed up in October at Bean Hollow State Beach, a few miles farther south, was also found to have signs of trauma. The cause of death was determined to be the blunt force of a passing ship.

Questions have been raised about the potential threat ships pose to whales and the issue of ship speeds in busy shipping lanes.  On June 6 this year, conservation groups filed a legal petition with the Department of Commerce seeking a mandatory speed limit for large ships traveling through marine sanctuaries off the California coast.  The petition, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Defense Center, Pacific Environment and Friends of the Earth, asks that there be a 10-knot limit for large commercial vessels in these areas to protect the whales.

In the end, Oswald said, the death of this whale “reminds all of us that we share our environment with these marine mammals.”

Watch a video of the gray whale on Pescadero State Beach here.