Last weekend as marathoners raced down Douglas Highway under a rare bluebird sky, a distracted crowd gathered just beyond the finish line at the water’s edge. Douglas residents stood within a few dozen feet of the carcass, watching as members of the U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA quickly worked to assess a humpback calf that had drifted close to shore.
The calf, a male estimated to be somewhere between six to eight months old, was over 30 feet long and bobbed in the tide as cruise ships, fishing vessels and tour boats moved up Gastineau Channel. Mount Juneau loomed above, a quiet witness to the decades-long interplay between industry and ecosystem still unfolding in these waters.
NOAA Fisheries was notified of the stranded whale at 9 a.m. on July 26th, and a team was dispatched to assess the situation.
“Our initial actions were to help ensure that the dead whale did not wash ashore among residential and recreational areas,” said Dr. Suzie Teerlink, a marine mammal specialist and NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Office humpback whale coordinator. “Relocating the carcass to a more remote beach, we organized a NOAA-led necropsy the next day and had a team of experienced experts out to establish cause of death, and to collect samples and measurements about the underlying health and baseline metrics of a species that’s otherwise really hard to study.”
As the crowd gathered that morning, blood could be seen streaming from near the top of the whale’s caudal peduncle, that muscular region between the dorsal fin and flukes. Observing the crowd of vessels on the water, bystanders speculated about a possible vessel strike. However, NOAA’s initial findings did not support that conclusion.
The necropsy is complete (examination and samples), but the following analysis and report are still ongoing. In this preliminary time, no conclusive cause of death has been determined and an identification hasn’t been made. According to Dr. Teerlink, the team found no evidence of entanglement or killer whale predation. Tissue samples collected during the necropsy will be sent to labs in order to assess the underlying health of the animal — a process that may take months.
While the cause of death remained inconclusive, the incident reignited long-standing concerns among residents about the toll of increased vessel traffic on local marine life.
“I had a friend out at Auke Bay, and they were overhead taking pictures of the number of fishermen that were out, and it was just like a giant maze,” said Kat Pratt, an anthrozoologist and Douglas resident. “How could anything pass through that without getting caught in something? There’s just no way.”
On the minds of many was Tango, the calf of a beloved whale named Sasha, killed in a vessel strike in 2023. In the months following Tango’s death, the community grieved alongside Sasha.
Increased vessel traffic could have serious effects on humpback whale populations. Southeast Alaska has a unique landscape compared to other whale watching and commercial fishing locations. Its intricate network of narrow channels and islands is the antithesis to the open waters seen in other industry-heavy hubs in the South Pacific and the North Atlantic. Plainly put, it’s just more crowded around here.
A 2019 study found that in the presence of whalewatching vessels, humpback whales in Juneau were more likely to deviate from their straight-line paths, swim faster and shorten their inter-breath intervals.
Other studies have found that vessels trigger short-term behavioral changes in whales that could lead to long-term health impacts. Whales that are consistently disturbed while feeding and foraging may suffer long-term consequences to body weight and health, while females that fail to meet summer feeding needs may reproduce less frequently.
These conversations come at a time when the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), a landmark piece of conservation statute, is facing proposed rollbacks from Alaskan Congressman Nick Begich. In the name of industry, his proposed amendment would weaken decades of science-backed protections by removing bycatch safeguards, downgrading conservation goals, and loosening the definition of “harassment” under federal law.
Calls for protecting marine mammals and the surrounding ecosystems in Juneau go far beyond simple aesthetics.
A 2023 report estimated that the cruise ship industry supported 3,850 jobs and generated $490 million in spending in Juneau. A 2016 study found that there are more than 2,000 maritime jobs in Juneau with an associated payroll of nearly $117.5 million annually. These industries depend entirely on healthy ecosystems and thriving marine mammal populations — any threat to that foundation endangers Southeast Alaska’s economic stability.
“I’m just concerned about the balance being shifted,” said Pratt. “There is overfishing and loss to marine mammals. We don’t fully understand the extent, and that needs to be researched. Whether we realize it or not, we’re all connected to these animals for our survival. If we just keep charging forward for the sake of industry, I think we’re going to lose out on something big,” said Pratt.
When you combine a commercial fishing fleet of around 300 boats (as of 2016) with more than 80 whale-watching vessels operating out of Statter Harbor — and factor in the tight, maze-like channels of the Inside Passage — it’s easy to understand why community concerns are growing. There is — and will continue to be — an ecological cost to increased maritime traffic. As Southeast Alaska’s waters grow more crowded, the very ecosystems these industries depend on are being pushed ever closer to their limits.
To report any injured, entangled, or dead marine mammals, please call the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Statewide 24-hour Stranding Hotline at (877) 925-7773.
Rachel Levy is a Juneau-based photojournalist whose work culminates at the intersections of environmental justice, arts and culture, and sustainable tourism. A 2022 graduate of Harvard University's Environmental Policy program, she is also the director of the award-winning documentary "Hidden in Plain Sight" that exposes the labor exploitation and colonial framework burdening Tanzania's safari industry.
