Cause of whale deaths still unknown

State officials are still working to determine what killed two whales found on Louisiana beaches after Hurricane Isaac.

They also are trying to determine the whales' species.

The state Wildlife and Fisheries Department said in an email Tuesday that both whales were badly decomposed, making it difficult to tell the species.

One whale, found at Belle Pass, was more than 8 feet long. The one at Grand Isle was about 10 feet long. Samples were taken from both whales in hopes of determining what killed them.

Both whales washed up where weathered oil from the 2010 BP oil spill had been churned up by Isaac. When the oil was found, commercial fishing was closed in waters a mile off a 14-mile stretch of coast from Belle Pass to Caminada Pass.