Rare fin whale found dead on remote beach in Pender Harbor

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Initial examinations show that the whale was killed by blunt force trauma from a possible vessel strike.

Publishing date:

Mar 24, 2022 • 30 minutes ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation

Department of Fisheries and Oceans Marine Mammal Response Team members remove baleen from a dead fin whale as they perform a necropsy at Pender Harbour, BC, in a March 20, 2022, handout photo.
Department of Fisheries and Oceans Marine Mammal Response Team members remove baleen from a dead fin whale as they perform a necropsy at Pender Harbour, BC, in a March 20, 2022, handout photo. Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-DFO, Paul /PNG

PENDER HARBOR — An official with the Fisheries Department says a rare, young fin whale has been found dead on a remote beach along British Columbia’s south coast.

Paul Cottrell, the department’s Pacific marine mammal co-ordinator, says initial examinations show that the whale was killed by blunt force trauma from a possible vessel strike.

Martin Haulena, head veterinarian at the Ocean Wise Marine Mammal Centre, says it is a concern because the death of a rare animal affects the entire population.

The Species at Risk Act lists fin whales in Pacific Canadian waters as threatened, with about 500 of them remaining.

Cottrell says the 13-meter long, two-year-old whale probably died in mid-March before it washed ashore near Pender Harbour, about 100 kilometers northwest of Vancouver.

Fin whales are the second largest whale in the ocean, growing up to 27 meters long, weighing nearly 80 tonnes.

They have a life span of up to 100 years.

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