Fisheries officials to investigate after another humpback whale found dead in B.C.

A federal marine mammal response team will travel to Haida Gwaii on Tuesday after another dead humpback whale was found off the coast of British Columbia.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada researchers will perform a necropsy on the humpback to determine what could have killed the mammal.

B.C.'s Marine Education and Research Society says the juvenile whale was found floating in the Masset Inlet on Saturday. In a social media post, the group said it was hoping to get photos of the young whale's tail in order to identify it.

"The carcass has been floating around the past few days and once secured and in a suitable location for necropsy we will be arranging logistics," Paul Cottrell of Fisheries and Oceans Canada's marine mammal response team told CTV News on Monday.

Cottrell said the research team will coordinate a response plan with local Fisheries officials and the Haida Nation.

The discovery was made less than two weeks after another dead humpback was found on a remote island north of Port McNeill, B.C.

Researchers performed a necropsy on the whale, which was found beached on Malcolm Island on Oct. 23, and discovered evidence of blunt-force trauma injuries consistent with a vessel strike.

The whale was identified as "Spike," a female humpback that was first spotted in B.C. waters in 2018.