Sperm whale washes up in Hawaii filled with nets, plastic bags and fishing line

University of Hawaii Manoa researchers have identified extensive marine debris as a contributing factor to the death of a beached 17-metre-long sperm whale at Kauai's Lydgate Beach Park.

On Saturday, January 28, heavy equipment was used to get it onto the beach where researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Health and Stranding Lab spent 15 hours trying to find clues about its death. Because of the whale's size, their initial examination of the whale was limited.

"A major finding was the number of manufactured items in the whale's stomach," Dr Kristi West, the Health and Stranding Lab Director, said.

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"In addition to squid beaks, fish skeletons and other prey remains, we found at least six hagfish traps and we also found significant amounts of at least seven types of fishing net, at least two types of plastic bags, a light protector, fishing line and a float from a net.

"We did find a number of things in the stomach of the sperm whale that may have contributed to its death and are certainly disturbing."

West added: "The presence of undigested fish and squid lends further evidence of a blockage. This is the first sperm whale in Hawaiian waters where we have seen this kind of ingestion of discarded fishing gear and nets."

"We are only able to examine a small number of our dolphins and whales that die in our waters, and we think that each individual we are able to examine represents as many of 20 other animals, who are likely to ultimately die from these types of impacts. It's heartbreaking to see this kind of destruction in an individual animal," West said.

Researchers also found Monofilament fishing line in the whale, with three flies tied to it, which suggests all of the pollutants the whale swallowed did not originate in the ocean but came from land as well.

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Massive, male sperm whales transit the ocean over thousands of kilometres, so there's no way to tell where the materials originated.

"This mammal had a huge stomach, so we were not able to examine its full expanse, which is why we think that it's likely there was additional material we didn't recover," West said.

"The size of the opening from the intestinal tract into the stomach is relatively small and there is certainly substantial enough volume of foreign objects to cause a blockage."

The preliminary examination on Kaua'i was possible because of the collaborative efforts of the County of Kauaʻi and the Office of the Mayor, DAR and the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife, NOAA's Pacific Islands Regional Office, and cultural practitioners.

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