Dead humpback washes ashore in Tsawwassen

Adead humpback whale that washed upnear the BC Ferriesterminal in Tsawwassenhas been towed away for a necropsy.

The carcass, which appeared to be a juvenile, was first reported by a nearby resident.

It drew a large crowd of onlookers Friday morning including members of the the Tsawwassen First Nation who held a ceremony to honour the dead humpback.

Andrea Jacobs, an executive council member, said she was really saddened to hear about the whale washing up.

"We just wanted to be respectful and follow traditional protocols."

After the ceremony, the Canadian Coast Guard's hovercraft arrived. Crews tethered the caracass to the vessel and towed it away to the Sea Island base where crews will preform a necropsy.

Paul Cottrel, the DFO's marine mammal co-ordinator, says crews will try to find out how the whale died: whether it was emaciated or struck by a boat.

"It's really important to figure out what's happened to this animal, why itdiedand make sure that if there is a human cause, what that is," Cottrel said.

Depending on the cause of death, official lab results could take several weeks.

Cottrel says the humpback whale population isthriving along the coast of Vancouver Island and in the Georgia Strait.

While that has been a welcome sight for whale watchers and researchers,the number of conflicts with vessels is also on the rise.

The dead humpback whale wasn't the only dead whale in B.C. waters this week. A dead orca calf wasfound on Nootka Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island Wednesday.

That whale is suspected to be a member of the transient killer whale population, rather than a member of the threatened southern resident killer whale group.

With files from Jon Hernandez and Deborah Wilson