A 60-foot endangered Fin whale was feeding in Uyak Bay, not far from Larson Bay on Kodiak Island, Alaska, early in the morning late last month when it collided with a 48-foot fishing vessel. The run-in proved fatal for the mammal, which drowned. The fin whale is the second largest animal in the world behind only the blue whale.
Kodiak is the second largest island in the U.S., located in the Gulf of Alaska.
According to a report by Kodiak public radio station KMXT, the whale's baleen became entangled in the vessel's anchor line and it could not free itself.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported University of Alaska Marine Advisory Program specialist Kate Wynne's recollection of the event. Wynne, a marine mammal specialist, said the whale hit the line and towed the boat sideways for a distance before the vessel took on water. While it was unfortunate the whale was lost, she said it was also lucky the fishing boat didn't sink. She added that if the whale is near shore, it will likely become a meal for Kodiak's healthy population of brown bears.