No clear cause of death yet for whale found off Waianae

Results were inclusive from a necropsy to determine what caused the death of a humpback whale calf that washed ashore on the Wai­anae Coast.

The dead whale was discovered at about 11 a.m. Sunday on the beach behind Wai­anae High School. Scientists estimate the calf had died within 24 hours of its discovery.

Officials towed the carcass to the Wai­anae Small Boat Harbor and took it to Hawaii Pacific University’s Hawaii Loa campus, where a team of HPU students and faculty and NOAA scientists performed the necropsy Sunday night.

"At this point we really don’t know why the whale died," Kristi West, an associate biology professor at HPU and director of the university’s Marine Mammal Stranding Program, said Monday. "There were no signs of entanglement or a vessel strike, all organ systems looked really good, and there were no signs of disease or infection."

West said the calf had some milk in its stomach but appeared thin and dehydrated.

"That means it was a dependent calf and would’ve needed mom nearby for food and nourishment," she said. "We think it lost its mom, and definitely because of the dependency on its mom at that age, a calf couldn’t survive very long on its own. Why or how it lost its mom, we’re not sure."

SAMPLES will be sent to local and mainland laboratories for tests to try to find potential causes of death related to disease or virus. Results could take up to a few months.

Dera Look, a NOAA assistant marine mammal response coordinator, said the calf was male and likely 1 to 4 months old. It was about 15 feet long and weighed up to 2,000 pounds.

Look said it was the third humpback whale death in the islands this year.

In early January a humpback whale calf died after becoming stranded in shallow waters off Lanai. Less than a week later, a stranded humpback whale calf died off Kawai­kui Beach Park in Aina Haina.

"Because the humpbacks are here to give birth to their young, we do expect a fair amount of natural or other deaths of humpbacks," Look said. "As far as if it’s a larger number than expected for the year, we can’t speculate at this point."