Humpback whale gives up battle

The whale which beached itself off the coast of La Brea is believed to have died. However, its corpse is yet to be found.  Newsday understands that efforts on Tuesday to release the whale into deeper waters left it severely injured as tugboats attempted to pull it out into the ocean. For a second time since Monday, officials from the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) and the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources attempted to free the whale.

After the whale was reportedly carried out into deeper waters on Tuesday, officials noticed it was not responding. The whale was left in the water while fishermen monitored it from their pirogues. Yesterday, fishermen claimed they had sighted the partly submerged, lifeless body of the whale just off the coast of La Brea, but by 2 pm they said the whale had disappeared under the water. According to Wildlife and EMA officials, the body of the whale could be carried away by the sea currents to any other coast in Trinidad or even as far as Venezuela. They said the carcass could take several days to re-surface.