It would seem it’s not a good time to be a whale off the coast of the United States. Last week the papers were full of the news that members of the Makah Tribe were updating their traditional – and long mothballed – hunts by harpooning a gray whale from a speedboat near Seattle then shooting it multiple times (the Seattle Times has a good Q&A and editorial on the topic, it also featured on CNN, AP, NY Times, LA Times, and others). It seems reports they used a machine gun are off the mark though (correction and comment). A recent study shows reports of gray whale numbers recovering are slightly erroneous (study, LA Times report).

The row over whaling is also continuing outside of America – an extremist environmental group is claiming it scuttled a Norwegian whaling ship that sank recently (AFP). “There have been signs that the leakage that led to the sinking may be linked to an open valve in the boat’s machine room,” the police inspector in charge of the investigation told Reuters.

Back in the US, another cetacean was responsible for massive traffic jams after rubberneckers stopped to peer at the carcass of a blue whale washed ashore in California. Marine scientists told AP it seemed the poor beast had been hit by a ship, with a tell-tale 15 ft bruise found on its back. Although it was hoped the skeleton could be preserved in a museum it was apparently too damaged. The bits of the whale that have not been sent to a local wildlife institute have now been buried (Ventura County Star).

UPDATE – 21/09/07

The LA Times is today reporting that another dead blue whale has been spotted off the California coast, the third in two weeks. “There’s something a little different going on right now and we don’t know what it is,” said Joe Cordaro, National Marine Fisheries Service wildlife biologist.

Image: Gray whale / NOAA