Last Friday (November 27) a Minke whale was seen floating near the marina in Inverkip.
The carcase was recovered and secured by HM coastguard assisted by the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS ).
The SMASS team travelled down to perform a post mortem on Sunday morning.
The juvenile female was in a good body condition and had recently fed.
There evidence of entanglement, with rope marks and associated bruising around the tailstock and over the tail fluke and severely congested lungs.
There was no significant remodelling of the tissues surrounding the lesions on the tail, indicating that the entanglement was acute, and the animal died as a result of the entanglement and subsequent drowning.
Entanglement is the most commonly observed cause of death recorded for minke whales in Scottish waters.
But the exact numbers and scale at which this occurs are unknown, making it challenging to quantify the issue and its impact on a population level.
There have been at least three other whale deaths caused by entanglement in Scottish waters in the past 12 months.
But more than a sixth of surveyed minkes – the most common species of whale found in Scottish waters – have been damaged by fishing equipment, an investigation revealed last year.
In its annual report, the HDWT singled out areas north of the Isle of Skye and along South Uist as particular entanglement risk areas for minke whales