Nfld. & Labrador

Adult orca dead after becoming entangled in fishing gear off northeast coast

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DFO will take samples for scientific study

This adult orca became entangled in cod fishing gear on Wednesday and later died. The carcass will be studied by DFO. (Jack Lawson/Twitter)

An adult male orca whale accidentally caught in a gill net by cod fisherman near Beaumont, Long Island, off Newfoundland's northeast coast died Wednesday.

Local fishermen began towing the carcass back to land around 10:30 a.m. Thursday morning and arrived at the Triton Marine Centre at 2:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon, roughly 40 kilometres from where the whale was discovered.

Department of Fisheries and Oceans scientists led by Jack Lawson arrived on the scene to take pieces of the whale back to St. John's to study.

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Lawson said he estimates the whale weighed 4.3 tonnes.

It took fishermen four hours to tow the orca carcass roughly 40 kilometres back to land. (Michael Roberts/Submitted)

"[It's] a great opportunity for science to learn more about these elusive whales here," Lawson said on Twitter.

DFO estimates the whale weighed 4.3 tonnes. (Michael Roberts/Submitted)

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