On Saturday, April 13, a humpback whale was reported to NOAA Fisheries partners, stranded 150 yards off Rodanthe’s shore.

On April 14, a local fisherman spotted the entangled whale still alive. By Tuesday, April 16, the whale washed ashore on Pea Island, its pectoral fin and mouth entangled in fishing gear.

The juvenile female, measuring 31.5 feet, did not survive. Due to the fishing gear’s presence, NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement has launched an investigation. According to NOAA Fisheries Communications Specialist Allison Garrett, this incident adds to an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event for humpback whales in the Atlantic, marking the 220th case along the East Coast and the 30th off North Carolina since January 2016. So far, two whales have died off the coast of North Carolina in 2024.