Cruise ship likely killed endangered whale before towing carcass to New York

A 1,036-foot cruise ship sailed into it New York Harbor last Saturday with a dead, endangered whale nailed to the bow of the ship. Although the cause of death has not yet been officially determined, investigators’ initial findings suggest that the 44-foot-long sei whale was killed by a ship strike. Another incident that should encourage sea creatures to do so Attack on pleasure boats.

The MSC Meraviglia returned the big apple after a cruise to Bermuda. One wonders how the ship’s crew could not have realized they were towing a huge whale, but while sei whales can weigh up to 50 tons, the Meraviglia weighs over 171,000 tons. It’s not a competition. NOAA is examining the whale’s carcass to determine whether the whale was dead before it landed on the bow or was killed by it. The New York Times Reports:

“The investigation is ongoing, but preliminary findings – broken bones in the whale’s right fin; tissue trauma along the right scapula; a full stomach and a good layer of blubber – everything suggested the animal was otherwise in good health when it was likely struck and killed by the ship, said Robert A. DiGiovanni, chief scientist of the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, the The management takes over the investigation.”

Sei whales are an endangered species with an estimated population of no more than 80,000 individuals. NOAA estimates that commercial whaling operations in the 19th and 20th centuries killed 300,000 sei whales for their meat and oil. Since whaling was completely banned in the 1980s, ship attacks have been the biggest threat to whales. MSC Cruises told USA today:

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of any marine life. We have comprehensive measures to avoid collisions, such as: For example, all of our deck officers are trained by the Ocean Research & Conservation Association (ORCA) and we follow regulations to protect whales and other marine life. This includes changing travel routes in certain regions to avoid whales, and we will continue to evaluate and update our procedures with our partners and authorities.”

Accordingly the International Whaling CommissionTherefore, large ships that strike whales often go unnoticed and unreported. The change in mortality rates caused by ship attacks is significant enough to make the difference between extinction and survival of a species.

The massacre of sea creatures makes the thought of vacationing on a cruise ship even harder to bear. This is in addition to the cruise ship cover-up sexual assaulthave ships burst into flames And Pump out carbon dioxide on a scale comparable to a small industrial country.