Eight to eighteen ft long whales weighing 100 to 200 kgs washed ashore at Tiruchendur coast in southern district of TN, Tuesday. UNI PHOTO
Tuticorin (TN), Jan 12: Carcasses of 31 baleen whales were found washed ashore near the Tiruchendur beach in this district early Tuesday while 250 of the same species have been stranded in shallow waters, officials said.
The whales began washing up on beaches around 600 km from Chennai Monday night, the member of a combined rescue team of the Tamil Nadu departments of fisheries, forest and civil administration and police told media.
Local fishermen have also been roped in to help the whales – each weighing between 1 tonne and 1.5 tonne and measuring between 8 feet and 10 feet. The whales came ashore during a low tide and could not return to deep sea owing to a high tide, the official said.
Efforts are on to push the stranded sea mammals into deep waters even as a team of top officials of the fisheries department have rushed to the spot to conduct a probe.
“This is an unusual thing…an unusual mortality incident, we have to find out the reason,” marine scientist Velumani at the fisheries department, told media. “There could be many reasons…navy sonars could have caused it…or pollution…the reason is not immediately known and we don’t want to speculate,” assistant director of Tuticorin fisheries department, Amal Xavier, said.
“We have to study the health of the stranded whales and also the eco-system. The study would require the help of oceanographic experts also,” Velumani said. agencies