OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Two humpback whales found beached this summer near Cape Alava are more than are usually seen, but they necessarily don’t add up to anything suspicious.
Scientists at Cascadia Research Collective, an Olympia-based nonprofit institute that studies marine mammals, examined one whale carcass on June 12 and another last Thursday at Cannonball Rock.
Both whales showed signs of blunt-force trauma consistent with being struck by a ship, said Annie Douglas, a field biologist for Cascadia.
However, she added, the carcasses were too decomposed to tell if they had been struck before or after they died.
Douglas also said she was surprised more humpbacks are not struck by ships, given the large number of whales feeding off the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait’s heavy shipping traffic.
As for the whale deaths, “I wouldn’t say it’s an increase because we don’t really know [how many whale deaths come to human attention].
“Of the animals we are aware of, two in a month and a half is more than we have usually.”
