River Dee whale was ‘nutritionally compromised’ due to be out of habitat say experts

Experts from the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) have carried an examination on the fin whale which had stranded and died in the Dee estuary over the weekend.

The 40ft long whale was found stranded on a sandbank near Greenfield on Friday, it was refloated but became stranded again on Saturday.  

It refloated for a second time but was found dead on a sandbank near the Dee estuary mouth on Sunday. 

Following a lengthy recovery process, an examination was carried out at Mostyn Port port facility by a CSIP team, Natural Resources Wales and the University of Liverpool.

The whale was judged to be in moderate-poor nutritional condition, with no evidence of recent feeding.

Relatively minor parasitic infestations were noted within the vasculature of the kidneys (consistent with Crassicauda sp.) and also within the stomachs and intestinal tract and in the blubber.

No evidence of marine debris or plastic ingestion was noted in the stomachs.

The findings from the gross examination are currently considered to be consistent with live stranding of a and out of habitat individual. Further tests are pending and follow up results will be posted if anything of note arises.

A wide range of samples and data were collected during the course of the examination and will help inform research on this species and shed light on the threat’s cetaceans face in UK waters.

This is the third fin whale to be reported in the UK this year- over the last five-year period 17 fin whales have been reported stranded in the UK.

Huge thanks to our friends and colleagues from Natural Resources Wales for helping to coordinate the logistics of recovery and for their assistance during the examination on Monday night.

A post on the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme Facebook page said, many thanks “to our colleague Dr Julian Chantrey from the University of Liverpool for volunteering his time to take part in the examination and to our colleagues in British Divers Marine Life Rescue for all their hard work and help over the weekend.

And special thanks to all the staff at the Port of Mostyn ltd, Marland Marine and the team at Bob Francis Crane Hire & Heavy Haulage for their much appreciated help in facilitating our access to the whale on Monday.”

Image credit CSIP-ZSL