{"id":854559,"date":"2026-09-20T17:46:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T17:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/854559\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T17:46:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T17:46:31","slug":"endangered-fin-whale-discovered-dead-on-bow-of-cruise-ship-in-alaska","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/854559\/","title":{"rendered":"Endangered fin whale discovered dead on bow of cruise ship in Alaska"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"sub-text\">A massive fin whale was caught on drone video feeding off the coast of Long Island. Fin whales are the second-largest species of whale and are endangered. Drone operator Virginia Fitzgerald said this is the first fin whale she&#8217;s ever encountered.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">A dead fin whale was found dead on top of the bulbous bow of a cruise ship docking in Sitka, <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_earth-space_article_main-content_article-body_2_2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/category\/alaska\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Alaska<\/a>, on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_earth-space_article_main-content_article-body_2_3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/category\/noaa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NOAA <\/a>Fisheries Alaska said a local company towed the whale toward a nearby beach, but unfortunately, because the whale died recently, it&#8217;s not yet buoyant.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"668\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/814695636_1515444813948867_987855386590252577_n.jpg\" alt=\"The fin whale was discovered dead on the bulbous bow of a cruise ship.\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">The fin whale was discovered dead on the bulbous bow of a cruise ship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sub-text\"> (NOAA Fisheries Permit #24359 \/ NOAA)<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">The whale is secured to the beach for the time being, NOAA Fisheries said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">NOAA said the fin whale is 57.5 feet long.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">\u00a0<a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_earth-space_article_main-content_article-body_2_4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/how-to-watch-fox-weather-on-tv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">Fin whales are the second-largest whale species on Earth. They&#8217;re also listed as endangered on the Endangered Species List.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">NOAA said it is working with their Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network partners to assess whether a necropsy to determine cause of death can be performed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"668\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/817329468_1515444870615528_3027217157042333351_n.jpg\" alt=\"The dead whale in the water in Alaska.\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">The dead whale in the water in Alaska.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"sub-text\"> (NOAA Fisheries Permit #24359 \/ NOAA)<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">The public is asked to maintain a safe distance from the whale.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">The NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement is investigating the whale&#8217;s death, and asks anyone who might have information to contact them at (800) 853-1964.<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_earth-space_article_main-content_article-body_2_5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/earth-space\/10-of-largest-marine-animals-world-ocean-whale-shark-dinosaur\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">FROM BLUE WHALES TO PREHISTORIC GIANTS, THESE ARE 10 OF THE LARGEST MARINE ANIMALS TO EVER EXIST<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"668\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/800186370_1515444837282198_1743317889263137114_n.jpg\" alt=\"The whale was 57.5 feet long.\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">The whale was 57.5 feet long.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"sub-text\"> (NOAA Fisheries Permit #24359 \/ NOAA)<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">This is the second fin whale to be discovered dead on the bow of a cruise ship in Alaska this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">In June, a pregnant fin whale was found dead on a cruise ship arrived in Seward, Alaska.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_earth-space_article_main-content_article-body_2_6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/earth-space\/alaskan-cruise-ship-pulls-up-dock-dead-endangered-pregnant-whale\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">DEAD, PREGNANT ENDANGERED FIN WHALE FOUND ON BOW OF ALASKA CRUISE SHIP<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">The animal was 61 feet long and believed to have died from a vessel strike.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"668\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/727884772_1436430321850317_6996607200058081177_n.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">Alaska SeaLife Center staff perform a necropsy on a deceased fin whale in Seward, Alaska on June 20, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"sub-text\"> (NOAA Fisheries Permit #24359, Alaska SeaLife Center | Kaiti Grant)<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">According to NOAA Fisheries, fin whales are considered the most vulnerable whales to vessel strikes, right behind the North Atlantic Right Whale.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">Fin whales are found in all the world&#8217;s oceans, but they are typically found in deep, offshore waters, primarily in temperate to polar latitudes. They are less common in the tropics.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A massive fin whale was caught on drone video feeding off the coast of Long Island. Fin whales&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[3292,1147,7221,8477,6202,79,201],"class_list":["post-854559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-alaska","tag-animals","tag-nature","tag-noaa","tag-ocean","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}