The beaching of a dead sperm whale on Saturday at Fort Stevens State Park near Astoria marks a rare occurrence on the Oregon Coast at present. But decades ago, a much larger pod of cetaceans came aground on the state’s shores for reasons unknown to this day.
Forty one living sperm whales beached themselves at the Siuslaw River’s south jetty in Florence sometime after midnight on Sunday, June 17, 1979 — spurring an unprecedented humanitarian response.
Hundreds of volunteers rushed to the coast to pour buckets of cold sea water on the dying creatures, The Oregonian reported at the time.
Known whale strandings in Oregon from 2019 to 2023
“It’s hard to believe, and it’s just a terrible waste,” Oregon State Trooper Terry Crawford said while surveying the scene, according to journalist Clay Eals’ page-one story.
“I’m so sorry I could cry,” remarked Terria Hubbard, a volunteer who worked feverishly as part of the citizen ‘bucket brigade’ that formed overnight.
Teams tied ropes to several of the whales in a desperate bid to drag the massive creatures back into the waves at high tide, but to no avail. All of the whales eventually perished.
The remains, which weighed an estimated 800 to 1,000 tons, were buried over the next week beneath the Florence dunes.
The reason behind the whales’ apparently voluntary decision to beach themselves was never reported.
Such occurrences are now rare in Oregon. The Oregonian/OregonLive has recorded 16 other whale beachings in Oregon since 2019. All involved gray whales.
On Sunday, scientists removed the lower jaw of the dead sperm whale near Fort Stevens, a male estimated to be about 7 years old, so that its intact teeth can be studied.
Here are three more things to know about sperm whales:
Sperm whales are endangered: While the population of sperm whales has largely stabilized since the International Whaling Commission banned hunting the leviathans in the 1980s, sperm whales are still listed as an endangered species by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The latest population estimates published by NOAA in 2019 suggests there are fewer than 2,000 sperm whales roaming the coastlines of Oregon, Washington and California.
The number of sperm whales killed for oil lamp fuel in the North Pacific is estimated at nearly half a million in the nearly 200 years before whaling was banned.
Human-caused whale deaths continue: Human-caused sperm whale deaths are rarely reported, according to NOAA. The last fatal ship strike was reported in 2007, while a handful of whales have died in past years after they swallowed polyethylene fish netting.
The whale found on Saturday was dead by the time he washed ashore, according to the Seaside Aquarium. Staff don’t know whether the large gash on his body was inflicted before or after his death, but a necropsy planned for later this week will provide more details.
Sperm whales thrive in the ocean’s depths: With an ordinary lifespan of over 60 years, sperm whales are a majestic deep-water species that can spend up to an hour below water while diving to depths of up to 10,000 feet.
Cetaceans, like many other marine species, face rising risks from climate change as the ocean’s waters warm, as well as from oil spills and other pollutants contaminating the food chain.
Human-caused sound is also a growing concern for sperm whales, whose typical dives of about 2,000 feet are squarely in the ocean’s sound channel.
