KARACHI: A 35-foot-long blue whale was found dead in the Arabian Sea in a remote area called Gwater Bay between Pakistan and Iran on Monday.
The World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan) has said that a local fisherman Ahmad Baloch spotted the dead whale floating near Kuntani, Balochistan.
“It is likely that the whale may have died a few days back in the open sea between Pakistan and Iran and drifted towards the Gwater Bay by rough sea and strong currents,” WWF-Pakistan said in a statement.
It expressed deep concern over this loss and urged stronger protections for whales and other marine life in our waters.
The organisation has not reported that the exact cause of the death could not be ascertained, but it said that the mammal is likely entangled in fishing nets, commonly used in the coastal and offshore waters in the area for fishing.
Classified as an endangered species, blue whales, scientifically called Balaenoptera musculus, are described as the largest animals ever known to have existed.
It’s one of three baleen whales reported from Pakistan’s waters. The other two whales are the Bryde’s whale and the Arabian humpback whale.
