Massive humpback whale found dead in Delaware port

WILMINGTON, Del. --- Wildlife officials are trying to determine how a dead humpback whale ended up in a berth at the Port of Wilmington early Friday.

Officials said they were working to remove the whale from the port's waters, where it was found floating about 3:15 a.m., according to Suzanne Thurman, executive director of the Lewes-based Marine Education, Research & Rehabilitation Institute. She said fishing gear appeared to be tangled around the dead whale's pectoral fins.

The whale appeared to be about 25 to 30 feet long and was not much older than a few years, Thurman said.

The MERR Institute had its responders on scene Friday and was working with others to remove the animal from the port's berth so it could be examined.

"It's not accessible for us to examine it or to take samples or anything else," Thurman said early Friday afternoon. "It's difficult for the port, as well. So we are working together to try and get the whale landed somewhere - hopefully the port premises."

A young whale weighs about 1,000 pounds per foot, while an older whale – which can grow up to 55 feet long – weighs about 1,500 pounds per foot.

Once on land, Thurman said they will perform a necropsy – an autopsy performed on an animal.

"If we can examine the whale, we can learn what happened," she said.

One scenario is that the whale was caught on the bow of a large ship in the Delaware River and was pushed into the port. Because these ships are huge, Thurman said, the craft's staff wouldn't notice the animal on it's bow. As the ship entered the port, it would have dislodged.

"That's one very likely scenario," she said. "The whale could have been deceased and floating and just got picked up on the bow of the ship."

Thurman said whales have been sighted in the Delaware River before.

A crew member on a Cape May-Lewes Ferry shot video in 2014 of a humpback whale smacking the water, blowing and rolling along Delaware Bay.

Earlier this year, a dead humpback whale washed ashore on the coast of Bethany Beach.

On Friday, several workers could be seen watching over the whale's carcass near a floating berth. A few pulled out their phones to snap pictures of the whale's partially submerged body.

Debora Thompson, the port's marketing services manager, said the whale's discovery was not interfering with port operations.