Cruise ship struck and killed whale in Alaska?

I did a few searches and couldn't find anything....might still be half asleep but there was a news clip this morning on our local station about a cruise ship striking and killing a humpback whale.

Has anyone else heard about this? Where and which ship?

I could see how it happens, when we where in Alaska in May there was many times there was hundreds of whales all around us.

Very sad

Kim

It was the sapphire princess. Ironically, this same ship struck a fin whale last summer.

http://www.newser.com/story/96739/cruise-ship-impales-whale.html

oh so sad, thank you for the info.

Very sad -- hadn't heard anything about it in our news.

Cruise ships strikes whale in Alaska

(AP) – 9 hours ago

JUNEAU, Alaska — A Princes Cruises ship operating in Alaska has fatally struck a whale near Juneau.

Princess Cruises says the dead whale became stuck at the bow of the Sapphire Princess, and the vessel was stopped south of Douglas Island until the carcass could be removed Wednesday afternoon.

Princess spokesman Kirby Day says the dead whale was noticed at about 8 a.m. as the ship traveled from Ketchikan to Juneau.

Kaja Brix with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the animal appears to have been a juvenile humpback whale.

Brix says the ship had to increase power to maintain speed early Wednesday, indicating the strike occurred then.

A necropsy will be conducted.

Several years ago, a fin whale was killed and came in with the ship to Vancouver. This skeleton is on display in Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island in their museum. Second largest animal, size of about 2 school buses. Fast swimmers, can hit up to 30 mph, called greyhounds of the sea. On Monday- I had an incredible chance to finally see a mother/calf fin whale pair out of Gloucester (only the second trip of over a hundred where I did not see humpbacks). This pair was slowed down, by the calf, and I had fantastic close up viewing. Many interesting features- the sides of their body are different colors, with the right side grey, and left side black. They "side" feed, and the lighter color looks like sky under water, so the bait, is caught more by surprise. They don't fluke up, and are negatively buoyant, (humpbacks positive), so all they do, is point their heads down, and arch some, for their dives, little effort. Ok, enough :)

Must be something with this ship and captain! On our July 4th sailing during the return to Seattle, right around dinner time the ship listed very heavily toward starboard for too long a time enough for plates, bottles, glass to go flying and carts to roll. Everyone including most of the dinning crew seemd very slow to respond. I was seriously thinking Poseidon Adventure. The captain came on a few minutes after we righted and said they had to take evasive actionto avoid a whele, what is it with this ship?

It was the sapphire princess. Ironically, this same ship struck a fin whale last summer.

 

http://www.newser.com/story/96739/cruise-ship-impales-whale.html

Is it known that the whale was alive when it made contact with the ship?

The news report on CC says that when the fin whale was hit last year, the post-mortem indicated that the whale might have been already dead when the ship hit it.

Sad, in any case, as the fin whale is an endangered animal/mammal.

I guess the post-mortem will reveal more details on this latest event.

The captain/bridge crew must feel just awful, regardless of the circumstances.

The Fin Whale was found to already be dead when it came onto the ship. Until the lab reports are in we should not say Princess is at falt. Yes, it is a very sad situation and I hope that the cruising companies can find a better way of monitoring whales in their paths. I love seeing whales as much as anything in Alaska but sometimes accidents cannot be prevented.

According to the article "A necropsy in that case revealed that the whale may have already been sick or dead when it and the ship made contact."

According to the article "A necropsy in that case revealed that the whale may have already been sick or dead when it and the ship made contact."

These things unfortunately happen...I don't mean to make light of it but cars hit wildlife all of the time. As I recall, the whale that was found on the bow of the Sapphire last year in Vancouver was determined to have likely been dead or very ill before it was hit by the ship.

Until the lab reports are in we should not say Princess is at fault.

How could it possibly be Princess' fault? The ships aren't exactly manouverable!! "Speeding in a school zone", perhaps? No, whal;es don't swim in schools....

...I don't mean to make light of it but cars hit wildlife all of the time.

Road kill is abundant; whales are endangered. Two very different cases.

Road kill is abundant; whales are endangered. Two very different cases.

It's actually the same - wildlife getting in the way of a vehicle that can't avoid hitting it. Being endangered doesn't change that unfortunate equation.

Road kill is abundant; whales are endangered. Two very different cases.

Have you ever tried to apply the breaks on a 110,000 ton ship when a whale crosses its bow a few feet in front? No ship's officer would ever steer directly into the path of whales in fact there is a fine for doing so. There is a law that a vessel must not pass within 100 yds of whales and slow down within 400 yds of them. Princess did pay a fine in 2007 for a whale hit in 2001 but did not admit guilt in the matter. I am sure this matter will be investigated.

Tonight's local news is now reporting that it was a adult female (http://www.ktuu.com)

I have also read Juneau's newspaper where it is reported that the whale was found on the bow of the Sapphire about 8 am and that is was likely hit sometime during the night hours. I for one am not about to condem Princess for this until the matter is fully investigated and all facts are known.

The Fin Whale was found to already be dead when it came onto the ship. Until the lab reports are in we should not say Princess is at falt. Yes, it is a very sad situation and I hope that the cruising companies can find a better way of monitoring whales in their paths. I love seeing whales as much as anything in Alaska but sometimes accidents cannot be prevented.

I am not referring to last year's case. This is another one, a few years prior.

Road kill is abundant; whales are endangered. Two very different cases

What? Road kill can as easily be an endangered animal as an abundant one-last week a grizzly was hit and killed in Northwest Wyoming, pronghorns, prarie dogs, black footed ferrets and lynx end up under the wheels of semis in wyoming, montana and colorado every day. Its likely that the necropsy will find that this whale was ill or dying before the ship hit it since whales are well equiped to avoid collisions with other things in the water and the ships dont move so fast that a whale could not avoid them.

This was a very unfortunate accident..but I don't think Paul Watson and the "Sea Shepards" are going to come after the ship...Sorry couldn't resist...Love that show !!

What? Road kill can as easily be an endangered animal as an abundant one-

Indeed. There is a lynx in Florida that is endangered precisely BECAUSE it becomes roadkill so much. They reside in the Everglades, but roads have been encroaching on it. I think I last heard there were under 100 left.

This was a very unfortunate accident..but I don't think Paul Watson and the "Sea Shepards" are going to come after the ship...Sorry couldn't resist...Love that show !!

I was waiting for a post like this...my solution would be to cease all shipping to and from Alaska.;)

All joking aside, ship strikes are a major source of mortality for several species of whale, especially the slow moving and surface dwelling northern right whales (critically endangered). Young humpbacks are also vulnerable (I have family that was on a whale watching boat out of Hawaii that struck and mortally wounded a previously healthy baby whale...horrifying experience!)

I don't think anyone is specifically blaming princess, but thoroughly investigating the incident is mandatory. Ship strikes will probably always be an unfortunate fact of life, but there is nothing wrong with trying to learn as much as possible from each event to help minimize the chance of future collisions (for examples diverting shipping routes from major feeding areas and limiting speeds to give the whales more time to avoid impact).

I found it interesting to read that ships try to avoid contact with whales by simply looking for them, and relying on communication from other vessels that report seeing them.

I always thought they had sophisticated instruments to handle that.

Has anyone heard any more specific information about this latest incident? Specifically, the health of the whale when it was struck?