| Was ship strike responsible for another whale death?
A female fin whale was found dead in a busy shipping channel near Lambert Point, Portsmouth, VA - however rescuers are unclear as to whether this caused the animals' death or whether the whale was struck after it had died.
 Tests will now be conduced in an attempt to find out the cause of death and whether the animal died as a result of the injury sustained in its' mid-section. There is also the possibility that the carcass of the animal had become lodged on the bow of a ship and only drifted free when the ship slowed down, however at 45ft long, the whale carcass posed a threat to shipping in the channel and had to be towed to Craney Island for examination, the body will be buried once examinations are completed.
NOAA, concerned by "unusual" mortality events along the coast, commenced a programme in 1991 allowing tests conducted on the carcasses of this type of incident to be compaired with others in an effort to ascertain why so many animals have died. Since the programme began 39 unusual mortality events have been reported, however cause of death is still unknown for 17 of those 39.
It is vital that a solution is found to help prevent the deaths of endangered species from vessel strikes, as shipping channels become busier, the risk to whales increases greatly.
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