Whale hit by ship off Cornwall

6th November 2007

The body of a minke whale that washed ashore on the south coast of Cornwall has been examined by volunteers from Cornwall Wildlife Trust's Marine Strandings Network. The whale was first seen floating offshore several days before and was reported to have a large gash in its head.

"There was little we could do until the whale beached", said Maddie Precious, one of the coordinators of the Network, "but it did finally strand on the Roseland peninsular and we were able to record it. HM Coast Guard were naturally concerned about the risk to shipping of such a large, heavy object, so we're all relieved to know where it is."

The whale was found to be a female. Jeff Loveridge, one of the Trust's volunteers who helped to record the whale said, "She was lying on her right side in the sand. It was quite sobering to see such a magnificent animal in that state but, at the same time, it gave us a chance to get a rare look at one of the smallest whales. The minke whale is quite small compared to other filter-feeding whales: this one measured around 9m and they weigh around six to eight tons. The throat pleats extended from its mouth all the way down its body to about half its length. They looked like a huge rubber sheet with neat grooves in them."

When they feed, the whales take in a massive mouthful of water and the pleats allow the throat to expand until the water is forced out between the baleen plates that hang down from the top jaw, filtering out the small fish, krill or squid.

Jan Loveridge, Strandings Network coordinator said, "We weren't able to see the top of the head so couldn't confirm that it had been injured there, but from the description we were given when it was floating, it sounds likely that the cause of death was from collision with a ship or injury from a propeller. You'd expect a whale to avoid an oncoming ship, but they have been known to be oblivious to them when resting or feeding. Most fatal ship strikes are apparently caused by ships travelling at speeds over 14 knots and although whale species with a highly visible blow might be avoided by vessels in daylight, they can be very hard to see at night. That's especially true for the minke, which only has a small blow of about 3m in height, so they're difficult to see even in calm weather".

Rory Goodall, a Trust volunteer and founder of Elemental Tours said, "We were particularly sad to see this one after having seen two minkes feeding off Land's End a few weeks back. We've seen more minke whales this summer on our boat trips than ever before. Looking at our records and those of Seawatch South West, who've kept a dawn to dusk watch at Gwennap Head, near Land's End throughout the summer, the maximum number of sightings coincided with high temperatures and unusually large numbers of basking sharks in the area from late August to mid September.

"In places, the sea was teeming with bait fish, "breezing" the surface, being chased by larger predators beneath them, all feeding on a late plankton bloom. This kick-started the food-chain into top gear, attracting not only the minke whales but bottlenose dolphins, harbour porpoises and even more unusually, pods of risso's dolphins. Unfortunately, this wildlife frenzy occurred in some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and the more cetaceans attracted to the area, the more likelihood of a ship strike."

Rory continued, "It's been fantastic to see all this and some of our younger passengers were thrilled to be confronted by these fascinating creatures. The minke whale is found throughout the world's oceans, from the Arctic to the Antarctic and is the whale most likely to be seen from the shore in the UK. Minke whales were originally ignored by whalers due to their small size, but as larger whales became rarer due to over-exploitation and other threats, they became more economically attractive. They are still commercially hunted in the North Atlantic and this represents a major threat to the UK population.

Jan Loveridge concluded, "We're grateful to the members of the public and HM Coast Guard who kept reporting the progress of the whale to us and its location when it actually beached. We're always pleased to receive reports of stranded marine animals via our Hotline on 0845 201 2626. We'll be sending the report and photographs of this one to the Natural History Museum as usual, for inclusion in the national strandings database".