Introduction

Kodiak Island is situated off the Alaskan Peninsula in the Gulf of Alaska and is part of a large archipelago of sixteen major islands that stretches 177 miles. Its mountainous and rugged terrain is home to the world renowned Kodiak Brown Bear that feasts on five species of Pacific Salmon that spawn in the rivers and lakes. Rich oceans that support productive fisheries and a great diversity of birds and marine mammals surround Kodiak.

Each spring, a local event known as Kodiak WhaleFest celebrates the migration of Gray Whales (Eschrichtius robustus) past the island. Visible from shore, thousands of Gray Whales follow their northerly migration route along the shallow western coast from the warm lagoons of Baja, Mexico to their summer feeding grounds in the cold Bering Sea. Kodiak is one of the best locations along the migration route for people to view the whales because they swim so close to shore and boats are not required.

Cape Chiniak and Narrow Cape are two excellent places to view the whales from the top of coastal cliffs. The whales often swim directly under the cliffs so that lucky whale watchers can look directly down on their glistening backs and sometimes into their blowholes!

On May 28th 2000, a 37-foot long, dead male Gray Whale washed up on Pasagshak Beach on Kodiak Island. A local high school teacher, Stacy Studebaker, watched the dead whale float into the bay and eventually wash up on a beach in Pasagshak Bay where she and her husband have a cabin.

Stacy had just retired from a career of teaching high school biology at the Kodiak High School and viewed the dead whale as a tragedy but also as a golden opportunity for a marine education project.

She reported the dead whale to the National Marine Fisheries Service and asked for permission to use the skeleton for an educational community project that would result in a fully reassembled skeleton to be displayed in Kodiak. Permission from NMFS was granted and she was instructed to bury the whale in order to protect it while the soft tissues decomposed underground. This was a huge experiment as no one had ever buried a complete dead Gray Whale in Alaska as a method for cleaning a skeleton. Furthermore, no one really knew how long the process of flesh decomposition would take underground. From her research, Stacy figured 3-4 years. Others estimated 10 or more years.