A dead humpback whale was found stranded Thursday morning in Gaspésie. This young male of around ten meters will be the subject of an analysis by a team of veterinarians to try to determine the causes of death.
According to information obtained from the Quebec Emergency Network for Marine Mammals (RQUMM), the deceased cetacean had already been drifting for at least a few days. He was found stranded Thursday between Mont-Louis and Anse-Pleureuse, in Gaspésie.
The animal, which is difficult to access due to the tides, will be subject to a partial necropsy by veterinarians in the coming days, in particular to try to determine the causes of death. For the moment, we do not know what could have caused the death of this humpback whale and we do not know if it was known to scientists, specifies the RQUMM.
Many humpback whales frequent the waters of the Gulf and the estuary of the St. Lawrence, mainly in the summer and fall. These animals, which are not threatened with extinction, come to feed in Quebec waters before undertaking long migrations which can take them as far as the Caribbean.
Some whales are also well known and are observed year after year in the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park. Several are still present in this protected area, including Siam, a male who is also the oldest humpback whale in the St. Lawrence. He has been known since 1981.
Montreal whale
Cases of strandings of humpback whales have been rare in recent years in Quebec. In 2021, a humpback whale was found dead in Gaspésie, on the beach of Mont-Saint-Pierre.
In 2017, a young nine-meter humpback whale, weighing more than seven tons, was also found on the North Shore. His skeleton is now on display at the Marine Mammal Interpretation Center, located in Tadoussac.
The most famous case of a humpback whale found dead is that of the young female who had sailed up the St. Lawrence to Montreal in the spring of 2020. For a week, the presence of the whale had attracted hundreds of people every day. curious people at the Quai de l’Horloge, in the Old Port of Montreal.
She was finally found dead downstream from Montreal. Even if the possibility of a collision with a ship in the St. Lawrence Seaway remains very plausible, the scientists who analyzed the case were unable to confirm this hypothesis.
Mortalities
Every year, cetaceans are killed in the estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence, mainly due to entanglements in fishing gear or because they are struck by commercial vessels. Almost all of these cases are never publicized, if ever reported.
In addition to the risk of collisions, including in Quebec’s only marine park, maritime traffic causes noise pollution which can be harmful to cetaceans. Noise generated by commercial vessels on the St. Lawrence can propagate over 100 kilometers. However, no less than 7,000 ships pass through the St. Lawrence each year, particularly directly in the habitat of the 13 species of cetaceans that can be found in the estuary and the gulf.
Port expansion projects in Montreal and Quebec, but also on the Saguenay, should increase this maritime traffic in the coming years.