The amount of plastic was the most marine biologists had ever seen.
A dead whale with 40 kilograms of plastic in its stomach has been discovered off the coast of the Philippines.
Marine biologist Darrell Blatchley was called to recover the 4.7m (15.4ft) Cuvier’s beaked whale, which was trapped in the shores of the Mabini Compostela Valley.
By the time Mr Blatchley arrived, the whale had died, showing signs of starvation and dehydration, and had been vomiting blood.
A necropsy revealed 40 kilograms of plastic waste in the whale’s stomach, made up of shopping bags, banana plantation bags and 16 rice sacks.
It had died of starvation and dehydration, tests confirmed.
Images posted on Facebook show the whale’s corpse being towed to shore, then sheets of plastic being lifted out of its stomach.
Mr Blatchley and other marine biologists at the the D’Bone Museum in Davao City have recovered 61 whales and dolphins in the last 10 years, but said that their latest discovery was “the most plastic we have ever seen in a whale”.
The museum called on the Philippines government to take action against people dumping plastic into the sea.
Mr Blatchley told the Press Association: “Upon reaching the stomach I knew this whale had died due to plastic ingestion.
“I was not prepared for the amount of plastic. Forty kilos roughly of rice sacks, grocery bags, banana plantation bags and general plastic bags. Sixteen rice sacks total. It was so bad the plastic was beginning calcification.
“The Philippine people are a proud people, sadly it’s not in being clean or taking care of the environment.
“The Philippines needs to change from the children up or nothing will be left.”
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A North Atlantic right whale has been spotted entangled in rope off New England, worsening an already devastating year for the vanishing animals, federal authorities said.
The right whales number less than 360 and are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with ships. The entangled whale was seen Tuesday about 50 miles south of Rhode Island's Block Island, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
The whale has rope coming out of both sides of its mouth and has been far from shore, making it difficult for rescuers to help, NOAA said in a statement.
“Given the long distance from shore, experts were unable to safely travel to the last known location of the whale during daylight to attempt a rescue,” the statement said. “NOAA Fisheries and our partners will monitor this whale and attempt to respond to the entanglement, if possible, as weather and safety conditions allow.”
Several right whales have died this year off Georgia and Massachusetts, and environmental groups fear the species could be headed for extinction. The animal's population fell about 25% from 2010 to 2020.
A whale found dead off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, in January showed evidence of injury from entanglement in fishing gear. Environmental groups have called for stricter rules to protect the whales from entanglement in gear. However, a federal budget package passed in late 2022 included a six-year pause on new federal whale regulations.
“This is another example that entanglements are happening in U.S. waters,” said Gib Brogan, campaign director with environmental group Oceana. “We need stronger protection from entanglements in U.S. waters.”
The whales were once numerous off the East Coast, but they were decimated during the commercial whaling era and have been slow to recover. They have been federally protected for decades.
They migrate every year from calving grounds off Florida and Georgia to feeding grounds off New England and Canada. The journey has become perilous in recent years because their food sources appear to be moving as waters warm. That change causes the whales to stray from protected areas of ocean and become vulnerable to entanglements and collisions, scientists have said.
This story has been corrected to show that the whale population fell about 25% from 2010 to 2020, not 2010 to 2010.
This photo provided by NOAA shows an endangered whale that has been found entangled in fishing gear off the coast of New England. The right whales number less than 360 and they are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with ships. The entangled whale was seen about 50 miles south of Block Island, Rhode Island, on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. (NOAA Fisheries via AP)
