The gray whale washed up on Dry Lagoon beach on Feb. 2 was hardly an unusual sight. But when the mammal rolled over in the surf 11 days later, the shaft of a harpoon could be seen jutting from its flesh.
Humboldt State University Marine Mammal Stranding Network members removed the harpoon, and found the tip of another harpoon embedded in the whale. They also collected additional tissue samples to turn in to the National Marine Fisheries Service for investigation, which has recently produced some results.
Commercial whaling has been outlawed by the United States since the 1970s. There is a limited harvest of bowhead whales by native Alaskans, along with a few gray whales that are allowed to be taken by American Indians in Washington. The harpoon appears to be of the type used by Alaskan and Russian natives for subsistence hunting, officials say.
”This whale had probably traveled 3,500 miles from where it was likely targeted to where it ended up,” said marine biologist Dawn Goley at Humboldt State University
