Members of NOAA’s North Pacific Large Whale Entanglement Response Team are thankful for Wednesday’s freeing of an entangled humpback whale in Sarkar Cove, north of Naukati on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. NOAA received word of the possibly life-threatening entanglement on Tuesday, November 20. Dr. Fred Sharpe, an experienced member of the team and research […]
An NOAA-led team of marine mammal responders was able to free an entangled humpback whale early Saturday evening in Unalaska Bay, near Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The whale was first reported entangled on Monday, October 15. The whale had a tight wrap of line through the mouth and across its blowholes, as well as line and […]
Preliminary results from the necropsy of a male humpback on Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska found signs of hemorrhage, bruising, and a fractured skull—indications of trauma likely caused by a vessel strike. “Confirmation of cause of death is pending lab results, which won’t be available for at least six months,” said Kate Savage, the lead […]
Spring is the time of year when birds are singing throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Far to the north, beneath the ice, another lesser-known concert season in the natural world is just coming to an end. A University of Washington study has published the largest set of recordings for bowhead whales, to discover that these marine […]