Alaska Cruise Ship Collides with Endangered Baleen Whale; Whale’s Body Becomes Lodged in the Bow

The U.S. NOAA Fisheries confirmed that when a cruise ship arrived at the port of Sitka, Alaska, the body of an adult male fin whale was entangled in its bow, with the whale measuring nearly 18 meters in length and classified as an endangered species. Shipping traffic off the coast of Alaska is heavy, and vessel strikes and underwater shipping noise continuously disrupt the feeding and migration patterns of blue whales. Combined with the accumulation of marine pollutants, these factors are steadily shrinking the habitat of these endangered whales.