The North Haven Community School has a history of innovative educational projects, including building an electric school van and constructing a six-oared rowing gig from scratch, as well as having recently started a collection of student-mounted local birds. When vocational arts teacher Terry Goodhue heard of a small, 11-foot-long whale washed up into Seal Bay, just off the Fox Islands Thorofare, he immediately recognized the possibility for a great anatomical learning experience “re-articulating” the skeleton of the animal (stripping the skeleton of flesh, and then assembling it in anatomically correct form as a display), along with acquiring a striking permanent addition to the school’s collection of local fauna.
Goodhue currently holds federal and state permits for the collection and preservation of birds and other animals, although these permits do not cover marine mammals. Knowing time was of the essence, as the tides that brought this find could just as easily wash it away, he enlisted the able help of island student Emmett Hodder and his boat, and they brought the body to shore. After tentatively identifying it as a white beaked dolphin, they transported it to a farm on the island for burial, the first part of the process of stripping the bones for re-articulated display. This idea, however, was not to come to fruition, due to the unanticipated intervention of federal authorities.
In moving the animal Terry had not counted on the significant interest of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in his fortuitous find. Marine mammals, and all their parts, are in fact protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and the possession, sale, transport, dismembering or altering of any whale, dolphin or seal body is strictly prohibited, except by groups authorized by the NMFS. Maine has three such groups, and the authorized body in this case was Allied Whale, a nonprofit marine mammal conservation group run out of the College of the Atlantic, based in Bar Harbor, whom Goodhue duly contacted. The other two groups are the University of New England marine mammal rehabilitation center in southern Maine, and the Marine Animal Lifeline covering the mid-coast area.
The MMPA authorizes such approved groups to collect specimens, and provides for other groups and individuals to obtain approval for holding artifacts. This regulation in fact covers all parts down to even a single tooth of a seal, although some small parts are considered grandfathered. The primary purpose of this regulation is to curtail any domestic commercial exchange in marine mammal meat or parts, with international trade mostly prohibited by other agreements. Several countries do, however, still engage is limited whaling, including Norway, Japan, and some indigenous groups on the west coast of the United States.
Allied Whale and the College of the Atlantic were in fact immediately very interested in the find, having themselves conducted a number of marine mammal necropsies (an autopsy designed to gather data to determine the cause of death) and skeletal re-articulations, including that of a much larger humpback whale. Furthermore, their collection does not include a white beak dolphin at this time. As an authorized body to handle marine mammal strandings, they contacted the NMFS, and plans were made to travel to the island to collect the animal and transport it to Bar Harbor. A stranding is an event that refers to any marine mammal, dead or alive, in the water or washed up, behaving in such a way as to not be able to be under its own control, which can include such events as a large dead humpback whale bobbing around, or a live pilot whale left on the beach, or a seal pup separated from its mother and left on shore.
Goodhue was initially apprehensive of the collection plans, fearing that this might be the last he saw of his whale. The authorities arrived with Maine Department of Marine Patrol officer Matt Talbot and his able 3/4 ton state truck, NMFS Special Agent Ross J. Lane, who works in fisheries enforcement for the federal agency, and a graduate student representative of Allied Whale, who would actually take possession of the carcass and investigate the cause of death. The body was wrapped in a number of blue tarps, and the 700 pound burrito-like cylinder was loaded into the bed of the truck, with the tail sticking up two feet in the air. The body had by this time degraded considerably in the late spring heat, with the skin for the most part peeled away, and the visible internal organs noticeably deteriorating. Luckily the ferry back to Rockland on this first good Saturday of summer was not too full, as a growing stench was by this time accompanying the whale. The animal was taken to cold storage in Bar Harbor, where a necropsy was conducted.
Positively identifying the animal as a white beaked dolphin was done primarily through a tooth count on the upper and lower jaws. This species of small toothed whale can be easily confused with the Atlantic white-sided or common dolphins, although it is usually somewhat longer than these two types. This particular specimen was ten-and-a-half feet long – fully grown for this species. The white beaked dolphin is an interesting sighting, being a bit rare in local waters. Although not unheard of in the Gulf of Maine, these animals generally range Atlantic waters further north around Labrador. They feed primarily on fish and squid, pursuing and catching them with well developed teeth (as opposed to baleen whales, which filter their food from ocean water through screens of baleen), and can often be seen traveling and feeding in large groups of 50 or more individuals. Additional information is collected on sex, weight, length, any notable damage from boats or ropes, any tags or marks, and tissue and organ samples are taken for future testing.
The necropsy on the dolphin found on North Haven revealed no smoking gun in terms of the cause of death. This is in fact usually the case. “It is an exception when we find out exactly what caused the stranding,” said Rosemary Seton, stranding coordinator and researcher at Allied Whale, “it is usually not obvious, and often the animal is in deteriorated condition when found.” Smaller whales like this very rarely get entangled in lobster gear, and are not often struck by vessels, as are some of the larger species.
The future of the skeleton also remains unclear. In order to hold and display the skeleton, the North Haven Community School would have to obtain a federal permit from the Office of Protected Resources. It is possible for a school to obtain such a permit, according to Rosemary Seton, and other schools have done just this, but she stated that this must take place before any other plan is developed. “This whale is in effect property of the Federal government, although many institutions make a successful case for their permits on educational grounds,” she said. Rosemary stated that another possible course is for Allied Whale to loan out the skeleton for educational events, or even for permanent display.
Terry remains strongly interested in recovering the animal and going ahead with the re-articulation as a school project. “I think we can handle the skeleton out here on the island, as we have dealt with other animals, and while this is larger, we are used to doing things on our own and will learn as we go along,” he said. There is also some chance of experienced assistance from someone at Allied Whale. According to Seton “doing a dolphin can be tricky, with a lot of small bones, but we would be happy to provide some expertise.” One of the most interesting points of a whale skeleton is the residual hipbones, from limbs long since evolved away. These little bony structures must be shown in the correct position, suspended in space away from the rest of the frame, free from their encasing flesh.
The skeleton will surely be an impressive display, nearly 11 feet long, with its large tooth-filled skull. The North Haven Community School has begun the permitting process, and looks forward to eventually getting the whale back. Goodhue has even already measured a spot in the library, and figures it would fit right in.
