Sharks delay plans to remove whale carcass off Turtle Bay
CITY DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY SERVICES
Officials plan to conduct a necropsy on the dead whale at Hawaii Pacific University's Hawaii Loa campus.
Officials plan to conduct a necropsy on the dead whale at Hawaii Pacific University's Hawaii Loa campus.
The arrival of sharks canceled state and federal officials’ plans today to tow a newborn humpback whale carcass ashore and find out the cause of its death off the North Shore.
Federal officials Tuesday planned to have the dead whale calf towed from the rocks off Kahuku Point to Haleiwa Harbor, from where they wanted to transport it to Hawaii Pacific University’s Hawaii Loa Campus for a necropsy.
But David Schofield, federal Marine Mammal Health and Response Program manager, said that in waters northwest of Waimea, sharks began feeding on the whale.
Officials aboard a state enforcement patrol boat making the tow let the calf go rather than taking it to Haleiwa Harbor, where surfers and canoe paddlers are involved in activities.
