Whales

A humpback whale visiting the waters off Seattle gave people on shore a show Thursday morning.

The juvenile whale was seen swimming in a clockwise circle, making unusual noises and trailing two buoys. A team of wildlife experts had to move fast, but with plenty of patience, to save its life.

A final decision on the Makah whale hunt was expected from the head of NOAA Fisheries by the end of June. An administrative law judge recommended approval two years ago, but the agency has still not released its final environmental impact statement.

Three dead whales have washed up on the Oregon coast over the past week. KGW, citing Seaside Aquarium, reports that a baby gray whale washed ashore Wednesday at Fort Stevens State Park, only 100 yards from where a dead sperm whale beached over the weekend. A gray whale also washed up last week on the central coast near Reedsport.

Federal biologists have found that a sperm whale beached on Oregon's coast was killed after being struck by a ship. A spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries agency said Monday that biologists came to that conclusion while examining a large gash in the whale's side.

The federal government has commissioned Oregon State University to look into the possible impacts of offshore wind farms on marine wildlife. In the first year of this four-year project, the researchers spotted sizable numbers of seabirds and whales in areas that could one day host floating wind farms.

Fortunately, it doesn't happen very often in the Pacific Northwest that ships collide with whales. But when it does, it's upsetting, tragic and the whale probably dies. Three separate teams have developed smartphone-based systems that can alert commercial mariners to watch out or slow down when there are whales nearby. A recent ride-along on a big container ship demonstrated that real-time whale alerts are still a work in progress.

Scientists aboard the Bell M. Shimada keep an eye out for whales. One scientist hopes to help predict where whales will show up by studying the food they eat.

Entanglement in fishing gear is one of the two biggest threats to declining species of whales, along with collisions with ships.

By converting sounds to images, scientists can use artificial intelligence to quickly find and assess animals' calls, even deep in the ocean.