Cruise ship sails to New York with dead, endangered whale in front of its bow

A cruise ship pulled into a New York City port with a 13-meter-long dead whale across its bow, marine authorities said.

The whale, identified as an endangered sei whale, was caught on the bow of the ship as it arrived in Brooklyn Harbor on Saturday, said Andrea Gomez, fisheries spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A video posted to YouTube on Saturday appears to show the whale carcass hanging from the bow of the ship, with the Statue of Liberty and the New York skyline in the background.

An MSC Cruises spokesman said the whale was on the MSC Meraviglia, which docked in Brooklyn before heading to ports in New England and Canada. The ship arrived in Saint John On Wednesday.

“We immediately notified the appropriate authorities, who are now conducting an investigation into the whale,” cruise line officials said in a statement.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of any marine life,” the officials said, adding that Geneva-based cruise line MSC Cruises was following all regulations to protect the whales, such as changing itineraries in certain regions to avoid an encounter with the whales animals to avoid.

The dead whale was moved to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and towed ashore to allow better access to equipment and to conduct a necropsy, Gomez said.

A team from the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society conducted the necropsy on Tuesday.

The examination determined the animal was an adult female and found evidence of tissue trauma to the right shoulder blade area and a fracture of the right fin, the organization said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

Biologists will examine tissue and bone samples to determine whether it was already dead when it was hit by the ship, the post said.

Sei whales are typically observed in deeper waters far from shore, NOAA’s Gomez said.

They are one of the largest whale species and are internationally protected.

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