It was another vacation-perfect September day on St. Augustine’s Butler Beach until beachgoers found what appeared to be a live dolphin calf lying stranded on the sand in obvious distress. A call to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC), Wildlife Alert Hotline for help and photos sent in identified not a dolphin, but a rare and endangered dwarf sperm whale calf.
Individuals and marine wildlife rescue quickly mobilized in an all-out effort to save the dark blue-gray baby, transporting it for marine veterinarian emergency care. At four feet long, the calf was severely emaciated and in critical condition, according to OCEANA Southeast Regional Field Manager Hunter Miller. After consulting with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the government agency responsible for ocean wildlife, veterinarians decided to humanely euthanize the calf. The Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act are the federal laws that protect whales.
“Everyone was heartbroken for this whale calf,” Miller said. “Despite the best efforts of caring citizens and rapid response from both the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Marine Wildlife Rescue and the St. Johns County Beach Services, even emergency triage and skilled veterinarians could not save the calf ,” Miller said.
A common occurrence
Unfortunately marine scientists and researchers know that countless unnecessary deaths of ocean animals occur – usually far from the public eye until a dead or struggling marine animal beaches in a public area, revealing what is all-too-often a human-related wildlife fatality caused by commercial or recreational vessel strikes or collisions, ingestion of plastics, garbage or fishing gear, entanglement in crab or fishing traps, drag nets and lines.
Other threats to marine mammals, sea turtles and manatees are habitat destruction, illegal poaching, harmful algal blooms, rising sea levels and warming oceans. Powerful noise from seismic air gun blasting done to locate undersea oil and gas deposits is louder than rocket launches and can be heard up to 2,500 miles away, severely stressing, injuring or killing marine animals and interfering with their ability to communicate and navigate.
Sadly, the results of the calf’s necropsy found that it had indeed swallowed a large plastic bag and suffered from associated ulcers and starvation. Floating plastic bags resemble jelly fish – a food source for some marine animals.
Small changes, big impact
Local marine biologist and oceanic expert A. Quinton White, Jr. was distressed at the whale calf’s death but said that he was not surprised. Marine animal deaths from ingestion of plastic, trash and other pollutants in the ocean and fresh waterways are likely greatly underestimated due to the difficulty of documenting mortality and confirming cause-of-death. He also noted that the public may be unaware that all marine life is considered endangered because of water quality and the resulting loss of food sources, critical coastal and underwater flora and fauna habitat, and other threats to survival.
Though he often hears people say there’s nothing they can do, White said small changes by each person in what they purchase and how they discard trash can make a profound difference. Reducing water and energy consumption is another way to help, he added. Simple acts like cleaning up one’s trash after a day at the beach or properly disposing of cigarette butts are more examples of eliminating the waste that ultimately winds up in the ocean with “catastrophic effects.”
“Even small changes help, especially if we influence our families, children, youth and others to understand and practice ways to protect the ocean and waterways,” White said.
One positive outcome of the whale calf’s death was widespread local media coverage which sparked public interest in its rarity and generated questions about that and other whale species that live within sight of Northeast Florida’s beaches.
The dwarf sperm whale
According to the Marine Science Center, dwarf sperm whales can be confused with their larger close relative, the pygmy sperm whale. Dwarf sperm whales are the smallest toothed whales at nine and a half feet long and weighing 300 to 600 pounds when mature. They are smaller than most dolphins but move much more slowly and remain in the deepest ocean eating crab, shrimp, fish and jellyfish, and are rarely seen. Dwarf sperm whales have a flat back, triangle-shaped dorsal fin and a more pointed snout than the pygmy sperm whale, which is 11 feet at maturity, with its hooked fin and slight hump on its back.
These sperm whales are unusual because they use the “squid tactic”, ejecting up to 13 quarts of a thick, dark liquid when threatened. Like the squid, their ink ejections allow them to evade ocean predators like large sharks and orca whales.
Whale watching in Northeast Florida
Several other whale species migrate, swim, feed or calve off of Northeast Florida’s beaches. Both White and Miller say Northeast Florida is considered one of the best locations to whale-watch from November to February. The Florida Guidebook (www.florida-guidebook.com/whales-in-florida) provides the NOAA and FWC list of whale species found near Northeast Florida’s coastline.
The best spots to view whales are from high vantage points, beaches and piers at Fernandina Beach, St. Augustine, Flagler Beach, Daytona Beach Shores’ Sunglow Fishing Pier or Daytona Beach Main Street Pier. Scan the ocean for dolphins and birds accompanying whales and watch for the blast of misty air whales forcefully blow skyward. Then use binoculars to see what may look like dark blobs as whales surface to swim, lie, roll or slowly move through the water in calm conditions.
How to help a stranded or beached marine animal
Never push stranded marine animals, even small ones, back into the water because they usually strand again in a different location and may not be found. Animals beach for a reason, which could be illness or injury. Forcing them back into the water delays necessary, perhaps life-saving, rescue, diagnosis, treatment and care. Urgently report all strandings to the FWC hotline at (888) 404-3922. Follow instructions, protect the stranded animal and wait for rescue to arrive.
Federal law prohibits harassment, injury, killing or capture of whales and whale-watchers may not approach or attempt to touch or interact with them. A distance of at least 100 yards – the length of one football field – away from whales must be maintained. Additional laws apply for some species: North Atlantic right whales, for example, require 5oo yards – five football fields – of protective distance.
