Cruise ship arrives in Alaska with dead endangered fin whale on bow

Cruise ship arrives in Alaska with dead endangered fin whale on bow reports the death of an endangered fin whale discovered on the bow of Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas. The ship docked in Seward, Alaska, and on June 19 a pregnant fin whale was found dead on the vessel, according to NOAA Fisheries Alaska. The agency said fin whales are endangered due to threats including strikes by marine vessels. NOAA reported that a local company towed the 61-foot-long whale to a nearby beach, where NOAA and the Alaska SeaLife Center carried out a necropsy to determine the cause of death. The article includes NOAA’s warning not to collect whale materials, citing legal restrictions except for specific Alaska Native subsistence and handicraft uses. It also quotes a marine ecologist saying ships can travel at 22–24 knots, and argues for reductions to around 10 knots in daylight and eight at night. The piece adds that 108 whale-vessel collisions were reported in Alaska between 1978 and 2011, with 25 fatal to whales.