A necropsy conducted on a dead sperm whale that was found beached near the Peter Iredale shipwreck at Fort Stevens State Park on Jan. 14 found the whale likely died from a ship strike.

Michael Milstein, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said a team from the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network conducted the necropsy on Monday.

The exam, which attracted a crowd of onlookers, included cutting open the carcass, looking at the health of the whale and trying to determine the cause of death.

Milstein said the whale was a 40-foot long adult male, about 20 years old. He said the whale was in generally good health and that internal bleeding pointed to death by ship strike.

“It is a sad ending of course, but fortunately these strikes do not happen very often, and the sperm whale population is continuing to recover from the days of whaling,” Milstein said in an email.

Sperm whales were a primary target of the commercial whaling industry from 1800 to 1987, which nearly decimated the population, according to NOAA Fisheries.

A waxy substance called spermaceti found in their heads was used in oil lamps, lubricants and candles.

The sperm whale was listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act and depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

The last stock assessment by NOAA Fisheries put the West Coast population of sperm whales at about 1,270.

Stefanie Knowlton, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, said the beach remains open, but visitors are asked to keep a safe distance from the whale.

She said the department is working with local contractors to find a safe window to move the whale.

“The high water table and high tides during winter make it difficult to take heavy equipment out on the beach safely,” Knowlton said.

Once the whale is moved, she said the carcass will be left to decompose in place as much as possible to provide nutrients to sea birds and animals. If needed, the carcass will be buried, she added.

Knowlton noted that a whale will typically wash ashore on the North Coast once a year.