Three dead whales have washed up on Tri-State beaches in the past four days.

A necropsy is now underway on the humpback whale that washed up Monday in Long Beach, Long Island.

The whale was said to be 26 feet long, a male, and between the ages of 2 and 5 years old.

It was spotted floating in the water at Atlantic Beach around 5 p.m. Monday.

It washed up later at Long Beach. Parts of the whale will be buried in pieces on the beach.

“Of those whales that we’ve been able to necropsy, we’ve found that 40% of those have shown evidence of vessel strikes or fishing gear entanglement as the cause of death,” said Andrea Gomez, NOAA spokesperson.

“To me, the question is why is it happening, how is it happening, and what can we do to stop it,” said Eileen O’Brien, a Long Beach resident.

New York and New Jersey have the highest number of humpback whale strandings along the east coast.

Reports from NOAA show from January until May of this year, there have been six unusual humpback whale deaths in New York and seven in New Jersey.