National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries personnel work to disengage the carcass of a dead whale, believed to be an adult female humpback, from the bow of a Princess Cruises liner near Juneau, in this handout photograph taken on July 28, 2010 and released on July 29.
Photograph by: Handout photo, NOAA/Reuters
A dead whale has been discovered pinned to the bow of a Princess Cruises luxury liner near Juneau, the third such incident for the company's Alaska fleet in a decade, officials said Thursday.
The whale, believed to be an adult female humpback measuring 13.1 metres long, was found Wednesday on the ship's so-called "bulbous bow," the section of the vessel's leading tip that goes through the water, said Julie Speegle, spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Juneau. Speegle said it was possible the whale was dead when it became pinned to the ship's bow.
Humpback whales are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Officials from the U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service briefly detained the ship, the Sapphire Princess, in an area south of Juneau to open an investigation and remove the whale's body.
The ship was allowed to proceed in the afternoon, and the carcass was taken to a site for further study, Speegle said.
The cruise line issued a statement Thursday saying the company was surprised by the incident and that the vessel's crew had not noticed any impact or seen any whales near the vessel before the dead animal was discovered.
NOAA experts were to gather measurements and other information before a necropsy, the animal version of an autopsy, is performed.
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