A very decomposed sperm whale washed ashore near the Peter Iredale shipwreck in Warrenton on Monday.

According to a statement from the Seaside Aquarium, the whale, which measured 36 feet long, was first spotted a few miles off the coast near Newport last Tuesday, March 2. Then the Coast Guard spotted the whale carcass on Sunday roughly four miles west of Camp Rilea.

The Coast Guard "drift models suggested it would wash ashore somewhere between there and Fort Stevens/Columbia River Bar," said the aquarium. "At about 10:00 am. it did just that."

The aquarium said they measured the whale as much as was possible but that "the whale had been dead for quite some time before washing ashore" and so "very little was able to be done in regards of a necropsy."

Back in 1970, a 45-foot sperm whale washed ashore near Florence. During that episode, the Oregon Department of Transportation decided it was best to dynamite the whale carcass. While the idea had potential, ultimately, it ended up with everyone in the vicinity covered in dead whale pieces and at least one smashed car.

This time, authorities are taking a different approach. The whale's lower jaw was removed with the help of the Oregon State Parks and the jaw will be sent to Portland State University.

"As for the rest of the carcass," said the aquarium, "it is going to remain on the beach for nature to take its course."

That means there will be no whale rain, but there will be birds feasting on whale meat and oil.

According to the aquarium, "the last sperm whale to wash ashore on the northern Oregon coast was in 2012."

-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052

lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker