70-foot whale carcass found lodged on cargo ship’s bow at Port of Tacoma

An unusual and disturbing sight greeted workers at the Port of Tacoma early Monday morning: a whale carcass lodged on the bow of a container ship.

Marine mammal experts are working with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to determine what killed the 70-foot whale.

“They’re like, ‘Did you hear about the whale that was on the front of the bow of the Evergreen ship?’ I was like, ‘What?’” said Ashley Lathrop, who works around the giant vessels and said she had never seen anything like it.

“I think that is absolutely crazy!” Lathrop said.

The carcass arrived in the port Monday morning on the bow of an Evergreen cargo ship. Jennifer Sepulveda, communications manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, told KOMO News that, preliminarily, it may be an endangered fin whale. However, she said the animal is so badly decomposed that investigators will not know the species or cause of death until after a necropsy or, if necessary, genetic testing.

Photos and video captured by Lathrop show the 70-foot carcass being towed out of the port’s Blair Dock. Sepulveda said the carcass is headed to an undisclosed location on McNeil Island so investigators can determine how it died.

“It’s sad. Another whale gone, so many showing up on beaches and other places,” Lathrop said.

Fish and Wildlife says the fin whale population is shrinking, noting that in 2018, only 8,000 were living off the West Coast year-round.

“It happens periodically — a carcass on a vessel's bow — from what I’ve been told and heard. It’s a shame,” said Rocky, who works in the area and regularly visits Ruston Point and Dune Peninsula to whale watch.

Fish and Wildlife investigators, working with the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network, told KOMO News that a stranded whale on a vessel’s bow is not unprecedented.

“Poor whale,” Rocky said.

“Everybody is talking about it. They want to know what’s happened and exactly how did this happen,” Lathrop said.

KOMO News reached out to Evergreen Shipping via email Tuesday and is awaiting a response. It is unclear whether the ship’s crew knew about the carcass before the vessel arrived in port.

Fish and Wildlife stressed that reporting a stranded whale or whale carcass is critical and encouraged immediate reporting to the West Coast Region Stranding Hotline at 1-866-767-6114.