Whales washing ashore frequently signal climatic change , growing disturbances in sea

Whales coming ashore in various parts of India frequently is not a good sign from the environmental aspect.  


Huge  mammal’s coming to shores was never so frequent as it happened during last few months . In a shocking phenomenon,A pod of whales had washed ashore in Tamil Naidu last month ,and most of them died,then it happened in Mumbai,and after that latest is the case in Odisha
 
  A 33-foot sperm whale washed ashore near Podampetta off the Ganjam coast in Odisha, about 150 kilometers from Bhubaneswar three days ago. No reason for the Odisha’s death is known yet ,but forest officials say she might have dead a couple of days ago and it might have died after being hit by fishing trawlers.
 Sperm whale is the largest toothed whale in the world. It can stay submerged for about 90 minutes and can dive down to 2,250 meters.The site where the whale has washed up is also the rookery for Olive Ridley sea turtle.
 A 12m (40ft) long Bryde's whale was  washed up on Juhu  beach in the western city of Mumbai a few days ago.it weighed around 20 tonnes. The Bryde's whale is an endangered species and is found in the Arabian sea.
Experts are looking into the freak  incidents but whales die of many reasons like it swims against waves and during ebbing time when water recedes it  gets disoriented and swims to  dried shores ; underground seismic  activity also throw whales in disorientation cycle ; less salinity or mixing of sweet water resources also cause disbalance;fish trawlers injure them; out of fear of sharks whales some time swim to shores without realizing consequences; noise pollution in sea because of too much activity of trawlers,ships also disturb  huge fish, at times whales get choked due to plastic and polythene sheets  in sea.

Experts are now looking into such incidents ,but  speedy action is required to save whales. Some species move in groups and follow pilot whale in most of the cases.

Last month, band news came from the Tiruchendur coast in Southern Tamil Nadu where more than 80 whales had come on the shore and unfortunately 45 died despite all efforts put them back into  sea water.

Alarm bells were set and fishermen and authorities ,who were keeping a watch on 16 kms long stretch, were at loss to understand the phenomenon and giant fishes were dying in front of their eyes.

Of the 81 fishes washed ashore ,45 had died by afternoon and each fish was weighing around 1000-1500 kilograms and about four meters long. 15 others died on Jan 13,2015).These pods of short finned pilot whales  breached ,left wild life authorities fully baffled.The pod is social group of whales.

The Alanthalai and Manappadu stretches of the Coast near Tuticorin district has rough sea bed  and fishes were stranded there. Experts feel that fishes might have come to the shore on high tide and in low tide,they were stuck. As they follow the lead fish which uses sonar navigation may have lost the main course .

 Fishes were coming to shore one afternoon and by evening ,it was an alarming situation and fishermen were awake through out the night to put them back in sea. At  least 250 whales were pushed back to the sea.

Exact cause cannot be pin pointed by marine experts and deep studies  of the eco system is required  with the help of oceongraphic experts. The shot finned pilot whales are found in the pacific ocean .

 Coast guard, wild life department,fisheries department were involved in the rescue operation after mass stranding reports trickled in . Marine scientists feel that the school might have got stranded in search of food.

Scientists working with the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere reserve say that these fishes were deep water fishes and dive upto 1000 meters and live in the matrilineal kinship groups which generally eat squids. In search of squids, the school would have come to the shore .

Unfortunately , on the same stretch on January 14,1973,   147 whales were stranded and after surviving for a few days, they had died.

Now , various teams are at work to put a round the clock vigil on theses fishes coming to beaches and a detailed investigations are needed  to find out reason –it might be pollution, due to climatic changes or any other region. Many say temperature and salinity levels were normal and these factors can not be attributed  for the freak incident.

These mammals use call dialects to communicate within the group and some fish might have fallen sick and others would have followed and met the deadly fate.