Because of tiger sharks feeding on the carcass of a juvenile humpback whale along Na Pali Coast and, later, off Polihale State Park, it was too dangerous for humans to attempt to retrieve the lifeless body of the endangered species.
Because of tiger sharks feeding on the carcass of a juvenile humpback whale along Na Pali Coast and, later, off Polihale State Park, it was too dangerous for humans to attempt to retrieve the lifeless body of the endangered species.
Therefore, it will probably never be known for sure what killed the young whale, believed to have been 25 feet long and first seen dead by tour boat captains Wednesday, officials said.
First spotted about one mile off Barking Sands, the whale had fishing net tangled around its head. The sharks likely will prevent a determination of the actual cause of death, said Don Heacock, an aquatic biologist with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Some of the net was recovered from the whale and will be used for educational purposes to show what kinds of problems nets can cause for marine life, he said.
The whale washed ashore Friday between Makole Point and Makaha Point, north of Polihale State Park, in an area accessible only by boat.
The National Marine Fisheries Service and its sister agency, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, DLNR and tour boat operators are keeping track of the remains. There are no plans to recover them.
It is illegal under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to collect or possess dead marine mammals or their parts without a permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Jean Souza, the Kaua’i coordinator of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary that includes some of the ocean around Kaua’i, said the sanctuary had permission from the fisheries service to recover part of the bailing that had entangled the juvenile humpback.
Earlier this month, based again on reports from tour-boat operators of a whale possibly in distress or entangled in netting near Nawiliwili Harbor, Souza and a boat crew found a different whale closer to Po’ipu. Its tail was attached to a fishing buoy, including netting from a long-line fishing vessel, she said.
The Po’ipu whale was an adult male, much larger than the 25-footer that washed ashore Friday, said Souza.
Now through May, Dr. David Matilla, a humpback whale researcher and one of the nation’s experts on whale disentanglement, is working in Hawai’i for the sanctuary.
Staff writer Paul C. Curtis contributed to this report.
