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Federal Agency Request Washington State Waterfront Owners To Bury Dead Whales On Their Property

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Federal Agency Request Washington State Waterfront Owners To Bury Dead Whales On Their Property

Dead Whales

Washington State waterfront owners, having no issues on providing their property to decompose dead whales can do so. Washington State has approved waterfront owners to do the needful work.  The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Fisheries is urging the waterfront owners to become a volunteer by offering their land to bury dead whales.

According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the number of dead whales has increased significantly. Nearly 200 dead dolphins were discovered from Louisiana to Florida.  The dead whale number is three times more than the predicted one by NOAA. Because of this, the waterfront owners have been requested to allow the dead whale’s bodies to decompose on their land.

Federal Agency wants waterfront owners of western Washington to make their land as the final resting place for dead whales. The NOAA mentions in 2019, large numbers of dead whales have washed away, and the agencies are running out of places to bury them.

Waterfront owners Stefanie Airway and Mario Rivera have responded to the request of NAOO. They reside in Port Townsend of Washington, are interested in helping and have accepted the offer of NOAA. The waterfront owners will not only offer land for decomposition but will also allow federal officials to examine the natural process of decomposition and observe the dead whale skeletons after decomposing and use it for research purposes, NOAA stated.

Almost 30 gray whales have stranded across Washington State in 2019; this is one of the worst situations noticed in two decades, NOAA reported.

One of the property owners, Mario Rivera, informed a source that, the dead whales are 40 feet long approx. 12 meters and decaying could take several months.  The smell is continuous and not that bad.

His wife Stefanie Worwag even responded to it and said,

It is really a unique opportunity to have this here on the beach and monitor it and see how fast it goes.

Across the west coast of United States, a maximum of 70 dead whales have been discovered during this year, mostly at Alaska, Oregon, California and Washington State. The number is higher from 2000 onwards. Only five dead whales were found on the beaches of British Columbia, and the number could be much greater as most dead whales might have washed away across remote locations.

Betsy Carlson- Port Townsend Marine Science Center Citizen Science Co-ordinator, mentioned:

With the unusual mortality event of these gray whales, we know more whales will be coming in, or there is a high likelihood that more whales will die within Puget Sound and out on the coast.

The federal officials addressed that the whales were found in the Puget Sound and the Salish Sea, close to inland waters, the space is very small for the mammals to decompose naturally.

NOAA is closely working with the state, local and other federal departments in order to find suitable places for decomposition, due to an increase in the dead whale number, NOAA is also looking at alternative options. Worwag and Rivera are currently the volunteers from the Port Townsend Marine Science Centre.

NOAA Fisheries is searching for more waterfront property owners to help the dead whales by offering a final resting place. They also want the owners to volunteer the decomposition process, the agency revealed it in the news.

Most of the whales suffered from nutrition mean they did not consume sufficient food in the summer feeding season, NOAA mentioned.

However, the authorities claim the population of the gray whale is around 27,000 and strong.

Mary Morgan

Mary Morgan holds a double degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and had experienced with various occupations such as news writer, content editor, reporter, technical analysis and a lot more. But she is passionate for news editing. From last 2 years, she regularly curates news articles for us in a different niche.

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