NAMELESS COVE, N.L. – A resolution may soon be coming to the dilemma of a beached humpback whale in Nameless Cove.
Service NL has informed the Northern Pen that government officials are working with the local service district in Nameless Cove, and they are weighing their options.
The statement read that Municipal Affairs and Environment officials met Monday morning, May 28 to seek advice and direction as to the appropriate course of action, in line with policy and practice, for addressing dead whales.
It was determined that the whale “will have to be moved or disposed of, either by towing it to a more secluded location to decompose or by burial.”
Service NL staff in the Western Region will be working with the Nameless Cove local service district to determine its options.
Last week, an environmental protection officer was in the area assessing the site.
The whale had beached in the fall and froze over the winter. It is located in an area popular with tourists in the summertime, on a point just across from Flower’s Island.
“A lot of people go out on Nameless Cove point and they try to get out as close as they can to Flower’s Island Lighthouse to get a picture, of course,” Hank Diamond said in the May 16 edition of the Northern Pen. “And that’s the closest point. They’d be driving right on past that whale.”
With the spring thaw setting it, the large mammal has started to draw concerns from locals that it will start to smell and potentially create a mess as seagulls scavenge the decomposing carcass for food.
