Marine mammal officials investigate sperm whale death on Kauai

Three excavators were needed to haul a 60-ton sperm whale carcass out of the wet sand Saturday at Lydgate Park on Kauai.

The dead marine mammal was first reported on the reef Friday evening and high tide brought it ashore the following morning, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. Officials said the whale’s cause of death won’t likely be determined for some time as they await the result of lab tests due in several months.

Jamie Thomton, Kauai stranding coordinator with NOAA Fisheries, said in a news release that based on how fresh the 56-foot-long carcass was, the whale probably died “in the last few days.”

A pair of excavators provided by Kauai County made numerous attempts to haul the whale carcass out from the shoreline where it was embedded in the sand, the release said. A large excavator from the DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife arrived in the afternoon to join the county crews in another attempt to free the massive carcass, and together they were able to pull it up onto higher ground.

Native Hawaiian practitioners observed the recovery efforts and conducted cultural protocols throughout the day, according to DLNR.

Now that the carcass is on dry ground, University of Hawaii Health and Stranding Lab staff will be able to begin a preliminary investigation into the whale’s death.

“There are many possible causes including disease, injuries from a vessel strike, entanglement with discarded fishing line, or ingestion of plastic marine debris,” said the lab’s Kristi West in the release.

“It’s important for us to probe each death of our marine mammals, sentinel animals like this whale, as that can provide information and data that helps inform management decisions and can provide a more complete picture of species health.”

According to Mimi Olry, Kauai stranding response coordinator with DLNR’s Division of Aquatic Resources, it is unusual for a sperm whale to wash ashore on Kauai, and this time it happened at a busy beach park where spectators watched the recovery efforts.

DLNR conservation officers had to shoo several people off the beach or from the closed park area for their safety, the agency said.

The whale carcass will be buried in an area approved by the State Historical Preservation Division to ensure no iwi kupuna, or ancestral remains, are disturbed, DLNR said.

Sperm whales, or palaoa in Hawaiian, are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and are protected under the ESA and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It is against federal and state law to remove any body parts or bones from the animals.

The largest of the toothed whales, sperm whales are found in all deep oceans, according to NOAA Fisheries’ webpage on the species.