Cruise ship impales fin whale, docks at Vancouver port

A fin whale has been impaled and killed on a Princess cruise ship that docked in the Port of Vancouver Saturday morning.

The whale, about 20 metres long, was wrapped around the bow of the ship Saturday in full view of tourists at Canada Place, many snapping pictures of the disturbing sight.

A worker from the cruise ship, who didn't want to be named, said he was not sure when the whale had been hit. The boat — the Sapphire Princess — had come in from Alaska on the Inside Passage, he said.

"From what I hear there was a bit of a rumbling this morning," he said. "It's too bad; I wish we had some system to detect them."

Julie Benson, spokesperson for Princess Cruises, said at this point the company only knows the whale became lodged on the ship somewhere between Vancouver and the last port of call, Ketchikan, Alaska. It could have been dead before it was lodged on the bulbous bow, a prong on the front of the ship used to streamline and stabilize ships, she said.

The whale was first noticed at 6:30 Saturday morning, as the ship was about 30 minutes away from the Canada Place port, she said.

"We were shocked and saddened," Benson said. "We take this very seriously."

Benson said Princess Cruises contacted the Canadian Coast Guard and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to investigate the circumstances of the whale's death. She said it is very rare for cruise ships to strike whales, and she could not provide information on the last time a Princess Cruises ship had a similar occurrence.

Benson said Princess Cruises has a "whale avoidance" policy, with spotters on the bridges of its ships.

"We think we have very good practices in place," she said. Asked if the company would review whale-avoidance procedures, Benson said it is too early to say.

Benson said she's not sure how the whale will be removed or where it will be taken. Vancouver Aquarium will assist in the process, she said.

She said the company does not believe the ship's scheduled departure at 4:30 p.m. will be delayed.

A Scottish couple, John and Margaret Davis, said they had specifically selected the cruise for whale-watching. "It's a shame, it's not the way I wanted to see whales," Margaret said as she looked on from a balcony outside Canada Place.

"It's dreadful," her husband added.

By mid-morning, a diver with a yellow helmet could be seen wrapping a blue rope around the carcass for removal, and tug boats were circling the area.

Don Wykes from Scottsdale, Arizona was preparing to embark on the Sapphire Princess for a 50th anniversary trip with his wife and family.

"The debate is whether the ship will leave on time," Wykes said. "I don't think we'll take off with a whale on the front of the ship."

In June 1999 a similar event occurred in Vancouver, with a deceased fin whale arriving in port stuck to the bow of a Celebrity Cruise Lines ship.

Whale-watching is billed as a main attraction for Alaska cruises, but ships are a danger to whales, said Paul Watson, an anti-whaling activist, at the time, suggesting they could stay at a safe distance if they installed sonar avoidance technology on bows.

"These big, fast vessels are always a danger to whales," Watson said. "They usually strike the animal and it is swept aside or it sinks to the bottom."

Marine scientists took tissue samples from the carcass in 1999 before it was towed to a secluded area near Boundary Bay to decompose, The Province reported.