LIHU‘E — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service recently released data regarding the whale strandings this season in Hawai‘i. NOAA Fisheries confirmed that rodenticide did not play a part in the deaths of three young whales
LIHU‘E — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service recently released data regarding the whale strandings this season in Hawai‘i.
NOAA Fisheries confirmed that rodenticide did not play a part in the deaths of three young whales that washed ashore on Ni‘ihau, Kaua‘i and Lana‘i islands between January and March.
Tests revealed no link between the strandings and the rat poison dropped on the uninhabited island of Lehua in January to protect a bird sanctuary, insects and seeds vital to the Hawaiian island ecosystem.
The liver sample of the “freshly found” calf which washed ashore on Kaua‘i established that diphacinone, the toxic element found in rodenticide, was not present.
“What I wanted to do was alleviate concern,” said David Schofield, Marine Mammal Response coordinator for NOAA, when asked Sunday why he made an official presentation in Honolulu last week regarding the matter.
“During whale season about 20 percent of young whales don’t make it through their first year,” he said, indicating that the deaths were not unusual and were most likely due to natural causes. “Two or three whale calves a year is right in there with the average.”
He said the whales do not feed when they migrate here; their stay in Hawaiian waters consists mainly of activities such as reproducing and mating.
Since they were not consuming fish during the months they were here, he said, there can be no direct correlation between the rodenticide application and the deaths of the baby whales as they would have been nursing from their mothers at the time.
It’s possible that the whale that washed ashore on Kaua‘i had perished from an illness which was acquired long before the rodenticide application even occurred, said Schofield. The telling indication was the amount of whale lice found on its body.
Schofield also confirmed that the monk seals that were reportedly acting “extremely sick” on Ni‘ihau had no trace of diphacinone in their fecal and urine matter that was collected and tested by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
He noted that the tests NOAA Fisheries conducted were only regarding marine mammal health and do not include fish or human health, which is a situation that still has not been resolved in the case of the Ni‘ihau fish kill.
• Coco Zickos, business writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or czickos@kauaipubco.com
