JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Whales have washed up on our shores for many years at different rates, but researchers like Robert DiGiovanni, says this rate is increasing which has sparked an investigation.
"NOAA brings together researchers from all over the country and examine different parts and try to understand what might be going on with these animals," said DiGiovanni.
According to NOAA, these unusual deaths are important because they can serve as indicators of what’s happening in the ocean.
From 2016 to now NOAA has been investigating multiple whale deaths along the Atlantic Coast.
“It looks like the Minke Whale we are seeing more of a biological cause for their standings," said DiGiovanni. "As far as Humpbacks and right whales it looks like they may be more human induced whether it be vessel strike or entanglement."
On Jan. 11, here on first coast a 21-foot orca was found dead at a beach near Palm Coast.
NOAA found that this orca was a mature female with evidence of a disease in her stomach and reproductive tract.
A marine conservation activist, Kevin Brown, says it's heartbreaking to see our marine life found dead on our beaches.
“When we see things like this come up do I get emotional about it? Yes. Do I get frustrated? Yes because there are a lot of environmental people who are screaming at the top of their lungs that we’ve got to stop creating more anthropogenic effects in our ecosystem, or we are going to lose it," said Brown.
For all of you that wonder what anthropogenic means, it means we as humans are the ones polluting the ocean.