Cruise ship arrives in Seward with dead endangered fin whale on its bow

A cruise ship arrived in Seward on Friday with a dead endangered fin whale on its bow, NOAA Fisheries said Sunday.

The carcass of the 61-foot, adult female fin whale — which was pregnant, based on initial findings — was towed to an area beach for a necropsy, the agency said in a statement posted to social media.

NOAA Fisheries said it is working with the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward to perform a necropsy to determine the whale’s cause of death. The agency asked people to stay away from the beach where the necropsy is being performed, “for your safety and to allow space for the team to perform the examination and collect samples.”

Photos posted to social media appeared to show the cruise ship involved was the Royal Caribbean vessel Ovation of the Seas, which can hold a maximum of nearly 5,000 passengers.

Fin whales are the second-largest whale species on the plant. They have an expansive range that includes the waters up and down Alaska‘s coast all the way to the Arctic, but they‘re not often seen, spending most of their time in deep, open ocean far from shore, according to a species overview from NOAA. In November 2024, a dead juvenile fin whale washed ashore on the mudflats in Anchorage, attracting throngs of visitors in the following months.

The species is “probably” the most vulnerable to vessel strikes after North Atlantic right whales, the agency said in its species overview.

The dead fin whale in Seward was located “on top of the ship’s bulbous bow,” NOAA Fisheries said in its statement.

Fin whales, which are classified as endangered, are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

“We remind the public that it is illegal for anyone to collect tissue, baleen or any part of the whale, unless you are an Alaska Native collecting tissue or parts for subsistence or use in handicrafts,” NOAA Fisheries said in its statement.

The agency said its Office of Law Enforcement is investigating, and anyone with information can call a 24-hour hotline at 800-853-1964.

Whale strikes, while uncommon, aren’t unheard of in Alaska, or in Seward. In 2016, the Holland America vessel Zaandam arrived in Seward with a dead fin whale on its bow, and in 2006 a Celebrity cruise ship arrived with a deceased humpback whale on its bow.