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Posts: 186
Registered:
November 2002
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Dead pilot whale on Peaks Island
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Tue, 19 October 2004 10:10
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In mid Septmeber a dead whale washed up on a beach at the northeast end of Peaks Island. I feared it was Poco, the stray beluga whale that has been ranging the coast all summer, but the whale was identified by experts as a pilot whale. Belugas do not have a dorsal fin. At the request of nearby residents who feared the stench of decomposition on such a massive scale, the whale was towed back out to sea.
While I understand the reasoning behind the strict laws reagarding who is allowed to possess remains of marine mammals, kknown as the Marine Mammals Protection Act (to prevent poaching, illegal trade, etc.), it seems that educational and scientific opportunities are lost when they present themselves like this, only to be cast away. A school or the new Gulf of Maine Research Institute (the Gulf of Maine Aquarium) should have been able to disect this whale or reassemble the skeleton of this once magnificent creature rather than send it to the deep as lobster bait.
Terry Goodhue, a vocational arts teacher at the North Haven Community School wanted to take advantage of the learnign possibilities when a whale washed ashore in Seal Cove off the Fox Islands Thorofare, but he was unable to do so because of the MMPA. See http://www.workingwaterfront.com/article.asp?storyID=2004072 6
I welcome any comments or opinions on this subject.
Here's the sad sight on Peaks.
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