Ship Kills Famous Humpback Whale off California Shore

An alleged ship hit has claimed the life of an adult female humpback whale known as Fran, dubbed "the most popular whale in California" by a well-known researcher.

The 49-foot whale washed up on shore in Half Moon Bay on Sunday, leaving behind a female calf with an uncertain destiny.

Fran suffered from shattered vertebra and a dislocated scull, and an autopsy conducted by the Marine Mammal Center and the California Academy of Sciences determined that her injuries were consistent with a ship hit.

Ship Kills Humpback Whale in California

Before the cause of death was known on Monday, the Associated Press reported that Fran would be the fifth whale to die in a ship hit off the coast of the Bay Area this year.

Fran was born in early 2005, according to Happywhale. This website identifies and monitors whales using picture identification and input from citizen scientists.

Fran moved between winter nesting grounds outside the Mexican state of Guerrero and summer feeding areas off Monterey. Her previous calf perished during the journey from Mexico to California.

Ferd Bergholz gave Fran her name through the Oceanic Society in memory of his late wife, who passed away after a struggle with cancer.

(Photo : LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images)
A Humpback whale jumps in the surface of the Pacific Ocean at the Uramba Bahia Malaga Natural Park near Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, Colombia.

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Late on Monday, Bergholz posted the following on Facebook: "I am very sad to report that "Fran," the Humpback Whale that I named after my late wife Fran, was the victim of a ship strike washed up on a beach in Half Moon Bay."

According to the study organization Whales of Guerrero, managed by Katherina Audley, Fran breached in front of Fred's whale-watching boat on his wife's birthday a year after she passed away.

Audley claimed in a Facebook post that the whales' death impacts them when they get to know these mammals along the way.

Mercury News wrote that Fran's death came too soon after a life that may have continued for many more years. She is the seventh whale to be killed by ships this year in the vicinity of San Francisco. Many more are said to have passed away quietly.

Fran's calf, who had remained by her side, remains unknown.

Common Causes of Death Among Whales

The most frequent causes of mortality in whales evaluated by the Marine Mammal Center's research team in recent years around the central and northern California coast include starvation, entanglement, and trauma from ship hits, a center spokeswoman told Newsweek.

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the number of ship hits is quite unpredictable and has ranged from four to six events on average over the previous few years.

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