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A 'million-in-one shot': State ferry strikes whale in Elliott Bay

Parker Miles Blohm
/
KNKX

Officials are investigating after a Washington State Ferries vessel struck a whale Tuesday night in Seattle's Elliott Bay.

The M/V Wenatchee was leaving Colman Dock for Bainbridge Island on the 8:15 p.m. run when crew members felt a vibration. Passengers then reported the vessel had struck a whale shortly after the animal breached about 5-10 feet in front of the boat.

"It's such an odd occurrance that that whale would decide to breach right in front of a ferry," said Gregory Faust, WSF director of marine operations. "It's a million-in-one shot."

The Wenatchee was going about 16.5 knots. Faust said it takes about a minute for a vessel to come to a complete stop from that speed, traveling about 600 feet in the process.

"It happened so close to the bow of the vessel and we saw no breachings earlier in the three-minute crossing," Faust said. "I don't know if there's anything else that (the crew) could have done."

There were no reports of whales in the area that would have prompted caution from the crew.

Reports initially said the whale that was struck was a gray whale. The National Oceanic and Amospheric Administration on Wednesday said it was a juvenile humpback.

Populations of humpbacks and gray whales have been rebounding in recent years. That means more of them are starting to become more common sights in the interior parts of the Salish Sea, according to John Calambokidis, a research biologist with Olympia-based Cascadia Research.

"These returns into some of these more heavily habitated areas have brought humpback whales into greater overlap and conflict with human activities," Calambokidis said.

Although the events aren't directly related, Calambokidis said we there's a parallel problem in the large number of gray whales that have washed up dead on Pacific Northwest beaches this year. 

When it comes to ship strikes, research shows that noise isn't enough for whales to avoid a collision.

"We basically concluded that this is something the whales aren't really necessarily recognizing as a threat," Calambokidis said.

Passengers reported seeing blood in the water after the whale was struck. A NOAA spokesman said the strike was likely fatal, but the whale still hasn't been found.

The Coast Guard searched for the whale until about 11 p.m. Tuesday but did not find the animal, a spokesman said. NOAA is still looking out for an injured or dead whale.

Faust said there was no record of a state ferry ever hitting a large marine mammal. The agency is investigating.

In Washington, 23 whales have been struck by ships since 2000, according to NOAA.

Calambokidis notes that whale ship strikes are generally underreported because it's not always clear that a whale has been struck. He said Tuesday's ferry strike is unusual in that so many people saw what happened.

As shipping traffic increases and whales continue make their way into these areas, those kinds of strikes may become more common.

A Seattle native and former KNKX intern, Simone Alicea spent four years as a producer and reporter at KNKX. She earned her Bachelor's of Journalism from Northwestern University and covered breaking news for the Chicago Sun-Times. During her undergraduate career, she spent time in Cape Town, South Africa, covering metro news for the Cape Times.