-
May 9, 2008 11:06 pm US/Pacific
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
Crews Remove Dead Whale From SF Waterfront
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP) ―
The U.S. Coast Guard and Port of San Francisco officials removed a dead whale that was stuck under a pier along San Francisco's waterfront Friday afternoon.
Crews harnessed the rotting whale and used a boat to pull the body out to sea.
Officials said the dead whale, discovered Thursday lodged between the pilings under Pier 27, was about 25 to 30 feet long.
A spokesman from the Marine Mammal Center said the body appeared to be that of a young gray whale.
Because of the precarious position of the mammal's body, professional divers had to be hired along with marine experts to dislodge and dispose of it.
The Coast Guard said the carcass removal would not pose a hazard to San Francisco Bay boat and ship traffic.
It's not unusual for whales to travel into San Francisco Bay and get lost while groups of a particular species are migrating up and down the Pacific Ocean coast, according to experts.
"Historically, of course before people were common in San Francisco bay, whales came in here to feed and breed," said marine biologist John McCosker of the California Academy of Sciences.
"This was a very important area for grey whales, but not in recent years," McCosker said. "A stray sometimes enters the bay. Why this one entered? No one knows. No one will know though because there's not going to be a necropsy."
This was the eighth gray whale found along the California coast this migration season. The Marine Fisheries service told CBS 5 that is not a high number. During a typical migration season, which ends in a few weeks, up to 10 whales will die.
"These are mammals, they get sick," McCosker said. "They are, of course affected by pollutants in the ocean, some of the food they feed upon are becoming more scarse, and that's becoming a severe problem for these animals."
According to EPA regulations, the carcass will be left in a dumping zone 40 miles out to sea.
"They'll sink it to the bottom of the ocean," McCosker said. "Where a whole community of sharks, fish, crustaceans will feed and live upon the carcasses of dying and dead whales. So at least it will ultimately benefit the ecology of the ocean."
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)