Indian researchers working on the project of Mainstreaming Coastal and Marine Biodiversity spotted a pair of blue whales near the Sindhudurg coast in Maharashtra. The spotting is the first in nearly 100 years.

Recent spots

Blue whales are the largest mammals in the world. The pair – mother and calf – was seen about 3 km off the shore at a depth of 15 metres. The same researchers also spotted the more common Bryde’s whales several times between April and May.

The five-member researchers are part of a Cetacean Population Study team under a United Nations Development Programme project on Mainstreaming Coastal and Marine Biodiversity implemented by the Maharashtra State mangrove cell. They had been surveying the waters over the last six months for humpback dolphins. N Vasudevan, Maharashtra’s Chief Conservator of the Forest and Head of Mangroves Cell, told BusinessLine that sighting of blue whales is a very rare phenomenon.

“It is estimated that there are only 9,000 such whales in the oceans. They are the largest mammals in the world, even bigger than the Dinosaurs but still they are least studied mammals.” He said that the exact reason for these whales to being seen close to the coast is not yet known. “It needs to be studied further for which additional funds would be required. Assistance would also be welcome from international experts. There presence is only matter of conjecture but it could be triggered by climate change. It also could be that they are migrating from the waters of Sri Lanka, which has a very large colony of blue whales,” Vasudevan said.

Ketki Jog, who is part of the research team, said that the whales usually feed on very small fishes and when shoals of sardines are close to the shore they come to feed on them.

“We want to work here and this research will continue. These sightings will give a fillip to research in marine mammals,” she told BusinessLine .

Doyen of Indian Marine Biology, BF Chhapgar, told BusinessLine that occasionally whales have stranded along Maharashtra coast and then died, but live sighting is very rare. “The whales could be migrating as similar migrations of whale-shark have been studied from Sri Lanka to coastal Gujarat. But blue whale sighting is very rare and it is a good beginning on the west coast,” he said.

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