HONOLULU (AP) — A whale that washed ashore in Hawaii over the weekend likely died partially since it ate large volumes of fishing traps, fishing nets, plastic bags and other marine debris, scientists said Thursday, highlighting the threat to wildlife from the tens of millions of tons of plastic that leads to oceans every 12 months.
The body of the 56-foot (17-meter) long, 120,000-pound (54,431-kilogram) animal was first noticed on a reef off Kauai on Friday. High tide brought it ashore on Saturday.
Kristi West, the director of the University of Hawaii’s Health and Stranding Lab, said there have been enough foreign objects within the opening of the whale’s intestinal tract to dam food.
“The presence of undigested fish and squid lends further evidence of a blockage,” she said in a news release from the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.
The whale’s stomach contained six hagfish traps, seven kinds of fishing net, two kinds of plastic bags, a lightweight protector, fishing line and a float from a net. Researchers also found squid beaks, fish skeleton and stays of other prey within the whale’s stomach.
Political Cartoons
It’s the primary known case of a sperm whale in Hawaii waters ingesting discarded fishing gear, West said.
The whale’s stomach was so large West’s team wasn’t in a position to examine it completely. They believe there was more material they weren’t in a position to get well.
Researchers found nothing mistaken with other organs they examined. They collected samples to screen for disease and conduct other follow-up tests.
Sperm whales travel across 1000’s of miles within the ocean so it’s not clear where the debris got here from.
Scientists say that greater than 35 million tons (31.9 million metric tons) of plastic pollution is produced around Earth annually and a couple of quarter of that finally ends up across the water.
Marine debris harms quite a few species.
Seabirds can ingest as much as 8% of their body weight in plastic. Endangered Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles can get caught in plastic nets and die. Sharks and other apex predators eat smaller fish that feed on microplastic, which may then endanger their very own health.
Along with eating plastics, large whales are harmed after they turn into entangled in fishing gear or other ropes within the ocean. The drag from debris can force whales to make use of more energy to swim and make it harder for them to eat, causing starvation.
On Tuesday, marine mammal responders freed a humpback whale that was caught in rope, a bundle of substances and two buoys off the Big Island.
Sperm whales are an endangered species present in deep oceans the world over. A 2021 report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated there have been about 4,500 sperm whales within the waters across the Hawaiian Islands, from the Big Island within the south to Kure Atoll within the north.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material will not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
