A new element has been added to the mystery about why thousands of dead sea creatures are washing up dead on Nova Scotia shores near the town of Digby.
Thousands of herring, starfish, lobster, bar clams, crabs and scallops have been washing up since late November along St. Mary’s Bay, which is fed by the Bay of Fundy.
Now, a humpback whale has joined the list of causalities. Its decomposed body was discovered on Tuesday.
Experts say there is not enough information to link the whale’s death with the thousands of others.
“First we would have to know what’s killing the fish and the lobster and the starfish and also look for a similar cause of death in the whale,” says Andrew Reid, response coordinator for the Marine Animal Response Society in Nova Scotia.
Scientists from Fisheries and Oceans Canada continue to carry out tests in the area but so far have failed to find a cause for the deaths.
Doug Wentzell, regional director general of the federal department, says that investigators have seen no indications of infections or infectious agents and there has been no evidence to indicate that toxins are responsible for the deaths.
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