Karachi:
A blue whale measuring approximately 35 feet long was recorded dead in a remote area of Gwatar bay between Pakistan and Iran on Monday.
A local fisherman, Ahmad Baloch, who fished in the region, reported the incident of a dead whale floating near Kuntani, Balutchistan.
It is likely that the whale died a few days ago in open sea waters between Pakistan and Iran, and it derived towards Gwatar bay under the influence of an accidental sea and strong currents, according to a press release.
Although the cause of death is not determined so far, it seems that the animal has been able to find itself in gillnets which are used to catch fish in the coastal and offshore waters of the region.
The blue whale, scientifically called Balaenoptera Musculus, is one of the three card whales reported in Pakistani waters.
The other two whales are Bryde whale and Arabic humping whale.
There are four subspecies of blue whales, two of which include the Pygmy blue whale (Balaenoptera Musculus Brevicauda) and the blue whale of the Indian Ocean (Balaenoptera Musculus Indica) in the Indian Ocean of the North. Given its small size, this dead blue whale seen in Kuntani can be a pygmy blue whale.
Muhammad Moazzam Khan, technical advisor, WWF-Pakistan, expressed his concerns about the mortality of the blue whale and has described this sad news for the community of conservation around the world.
He shared that the blue whale is known to be distributed in tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian Ocean.
Khan stressed that although this whale is classified as an endangered species, urgent steps are necessary for its conservation. Now, all cetaceans, including whales and dolphins, are protected by the legislation of fauna and peaches of Sindh and Balutchistan.
