![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1_Whale.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA dead whale washed ashore on Rockaway Beach last week, following a likely vessel strike, according to the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMSEAS).\n<\/p>\n
The animal, later identified as a male sei whale approximately 45 feet in length, first washed ashore near Beach 96th Street during the morning hours of Thursday, March 26.\n<\/p>\n
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A dead, 45-foot male sei whale washed ashore near Beach 96th Street last week. Photos courtesy of NYSDEC<\/p>\n
Just one day before the stranding, however, AMSEAS had received a notification from an aerial survey team about \u201ca whale carcass floating offshore approximately 15 miles south of Long Island.\u201d Upon arriving at the scene, AMSEAS confirmed the beached whale to be the same animal observed floating the day before after a photo match.\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2_Whale.jpg\")
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A necropsy examination determined the whale likely died from a \u201cvessel strike.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the hours that followed, AMSEAS partnered with local authorities at the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, and NOAA Fisheries New England\/Mid-Atlantic to secure and monitor the animal.\n<\/p>\n
The next day, a necropsy examination took place on-site and revealed the animal \u201cwas in good body condition and had been eating prior to its death, as evidenced by findings of food within the digestive tract.\u201d During the examination, however, AMSEAS biologists also discovered significant injuries to the whale\u2019s body.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whale had distinctive abrasions along its right side, and the internal examination revealed extensive bruising in the surrounding tissues on the right side of the body, extending dorsally,\u201d AMSEAS said in a statement. \u201cThese preliminary findings are consistent with a suspected vessel strike as the likely cause of death.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Following the examination, the whale was buried on-site at Beach 97th Street in accordance with NOAA Fisheries\u2019 best practices, according to AMSEAS.\n<\/p>\n
Prior to the burial, AMSEAS reported that samples were collected from many parts of the whale, including blubber, tissues, and organs. These samples were sent to a pathologist for further analysis to confirm the preliminary necropsy findings.\n<\/p>\n
Last week\u2019s whale beaching marks the first one since May 2025, when a dead, decomposed whale washed ashore near Beach 97th Street. That whale, a 42-foot humpback, was also buried on site and suspected to have died from a vessel strike, although the state of decomposition prevented AMSEAS from confirming such.\n<\/p>\n
To report future strandings of marine mammals and sea turtles in New York, please call the New York State Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Hotline at (631) 369-9829. The public can also report sightings of healthy marine mammals and sea turtles in and around New York to sightings@amseas.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A dead whale washed ashore on Rockaway Beach last week, following a likely vessel strike, according to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-380523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}