40 kilograms of plastic bags found in stomach of dead whale in Compostela Valley

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 18) — A beaked whale was found dead on the shores of Compostela Valley. The cause of death: dehydration and starvation due to plastic ingestion.

Marine biologist and environmentalist Darrell Blatchley said the male Cuvier's Beaked Whale was vomiting blood before it died in Mabini, Compostela Valley on March 15. The president and founder of D' Bone Collector Museum, a natural history museum in Davao, said they performed a necropsy on the whale where they made a "disgusting" discovery.

"I was not prepared for the amount of plastic. 40 kilos roughly of rice sacks, grocery bags, banana plantation bags, and general plastic bags. Sixteen rice sacks total. It was so big, the plastic was beginning calcification," he told CNN Philippines on Saturday.

He said whales do not drink water from the ocean and they get fresh water from the food they eat, causing the whale to die of dehydration and starvation.

"This whale had the most plastic we have ever seen in a whale. It's disgusting," he said in a Facebook post.

He called on the Philippine government and Filipinos to take action against the widespread use of single-use plastics.

"The Philippine people are a proud people, sadly it's not in being clean or taking care of the environment. In the last 10 years we have recovered 61 whales and dolphins, of which 57 have died due to fishing nets, dynamite fishing, and plastic garbage. Four were pregnant. This cannot continue. The Philippines needs to change from the children up or nothing will be left," Blatchley said.