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81 whales washed ashore in Thoothukudi, 46 dead, 35 rescued
On Monday, 81 short-finned pilot whales were stranded off the Thoothukudi coast. Govt staff and locals were able to rescue 35 of these whales, while the remaining 46 succumbed to dehydration.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
In one of the largest stranding of whales on Indian Coast, 81 short-finned pilot whales were stranded between Alanthalai and Kallamozhi fishing hamlets off the Thoothukudi coast. The forest department officials, fishermen and fire and rescue personnel could rescue only 35 of them and the remaining 46 died due to dehydration. According to eyewitnesses, the locals had never seen such a big group stranding on the beach. A similar incident had occurred during 1973, but the numbers
were far less.
Marine mammal experts suggest that pilot whales are among the most common to get stranded. Due to their strong social bonds, the whole group gets stranded. The pilot whales have a leader and if the leader gets affected, his distress call attracts his group members also to the shore leading to the whole group getting stuck on shore.
However, the scientific world so far could not identify the exact reasons for such mass strandings. PP Manoj Kumar, principal scientist, who is in charge of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Thoothukudi Centre, told DT Next , “Pilot whales are known to be the most common stranders. However, mass strandings happen very rarely. We had visited the site and the forest department is conducting the post mortem of the deceased whales. This particular stranding could have been a result of a problem encountered by the group leader.”
The large group of pilot whales started beaching the 16 km odd stretch between Alanthalai and Kallamozhi fishing hamlets from about 6 pm on Monday. As fishermen watched the phenomenon in shock, more whales swam to the shore and got stranded. The fishermen attempted to rescue the whales and had passed on the information to the Wildlife wing of Forest department at Ramanathapuram.
“We used fishing boats and pulled many of them back to the sea. Fortunately, those we had pulled in did not return to the shore. We managed to pull back 35 of them and by the time 46 had died. The whales weighed between 250 kg to 1 tonne,” Ganeshalingam, forest range officer, wildlife division, Ramanathapuram said.
WHALES & WOES
- A total of 81 short-finned pilot whales beached between Alanthalai to Kallamozhi fishing hamlets in Thoothukudi.
- Fishermen, forest officials, fire and rescue personnel and locals rescue 35 whales.
- Such a mass stranding is the largest reported off the TN coast.
- Of the cetaceans, pilot whales are among the most common stranders. Due to strong social bonds, whole groups of whales are known to get beached.
- If one gets into trouble, its distress calls may prompt the rest of the pod to follow and beach themselves alongside.
- There is evidence that active sonar leads to mass beaching. On some occasions, cetaceans have stranded shortly after military sonar was active in the area, suggesting a link.
- Every year, up to 2,000 animals beach themselves. Although the majority of stranding's result in death, they pose no threat to any species as a whole.
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