ROCKPORT - Opponents of the liquefied natural gas ports proposed off Gloucester said yesterday the dead whale that washed up on Cape Hedge Beach on Monday highlights their concern about increased vessel traffic threatening whales.
If the projects come to fruition, large tankers filled with supercooled liquefied natural gas would be travelling regularly to the ports, planned for about 10 miles southeast of Gloucester Harbor, to unload the fuel and send it through an underwater pipeline to the mainland.
"I think it highlights the concerns we and a lot of other people are raising in our comments" to the state and federal governments, said Roger Fleming, a senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation. "Any time you introduce something that's going to increase vessel traffic, it emphasizes the importance of making sure there are appropriate rules in place to try to prevent these types of interactions from taking place."
According to a necropsy report completed by Dr. Michael Moore of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, a vessel struck and killed the 2-year-old, 30-foot humpback whale, which washed ashore at Cape Hedge Beach and was discovered Monday at 7:30 p.m.
Moore's report said, "the animal succumbed within hours after major blunt trauma to the chest, neck and head."
The New England Aquarium in Boston said in a statement yesterday that the whale was spotted Sunday evening feeding off Rockport. "His behavior was vigorous and appeared healthy," according to the statement.
Excelerate Energy and Suez North America, the two energy companies proposing to build deepwater buoys off Gloucester where the tankers would offload the liquefied natural gas, were ordered to pay a total of $6.5 million to build an acoustic monitoring system designed to detect whales.
Besides the monitoring system, Fleming suggested that observers be put on boats to visually detect whales and that speed limits be created and enforced in known whale habitats to protect endangered humpback and Atlantic right whales.
Meanwhile, town officials are adding up the cost of dealing with the carcass. Public Works Director John Tomasz said the money, about $2,000 total, will likely come mostly from the Public Works budget, which does not have a whale-disposal line item.
"I have 150 line items, but that's not one of them," he said.
About 4 tons of the beast was buried in a hole about 6 feet deep, and 10-by-15 feet, he said, and was covered by 4 feet of gravel. Tomasz said there would not be a smell during the summer - "though people might imagine there is," he said - and he is not concerned about animals digging through the cover.
"That's tough digging," Tomasz said.
No aid is expected from the state for the removal and burial of the whale.
