Severed orca fin on beach stuns researchers

Whale researchers are stunned and worried by the discovery this week of a severed orca fin on a beach on the Washington coast.

Someone walking a dog found the 100-pound fin washed up Tuesday at South Beach at Twin Harbors State Park near Westport, Grays Harbor County.

"It was actually a dorsal fin, sticking right up out of the sand," said Ed Girard, the park ranger who first got the call to check it out. "It was a strange thing to see."

Canadian officials said the fin belonged to T086, an adult female transient killer whale known to Canadian researchers since 1984 by the distinct markings on the fin.

No one knows yet how the animal, protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, died. The rest of the whale hasn't been found.

But it's clear the fin had been cut off with a knife, said Robin Baird, a research biologist for Cascadia Research in Olympia, which collected the fin and turned it over to state wildlife officials.

If it died from being entangled in a net, a fisherman may have cut it loose. A report would have been required by law, but none was made, Baird said.

"I've been involved in [whale] strandings for more than 10 years and never heard of anything like this," Baird said.

Researchers said they still hope to find the rest of T086's carcass to solve the mystery of its death. Based on the state of decomposition, the whale probably had been dead for fewer than five days.

There is no known commercial market for orcas parts, and the animals are not hunted for food.

Transient killer whales are different from southern resident orcas native to Puget Sound, now protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. The transients eat seals and other mammals, and travel great distances in their range between central California and southeast Alaska.

Transients are not listed under the ESA but are still protected under the federal marine-mammal law.

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com