More whales beach on Tiruchendur coast

Tuticorin: A day after 81 short-finned pilot whales beached on the Tiruchendur coast in Tuticorin district, some whales, presumably the ones pushed back to sea, beached. By Wednesday evening, officials estimated that 73 of the 81 whales that beached during the past two days have perished. Some fishermen even took two of the whales some 10 nautical miles in mechanised fishing boats and released them in deep sea.
The Marine Ecology and Conservation Laboratory of VOC College has taken samples of the dead whales for DNA analysis. "We will be able to assess the population of the pod and the area from where they have migrated since pilot whales are predominantly a migrant species," said A Murugan, assistant professor and team head of the laboratory. Pilot whales are a deep sea species and it is unlikely they were affected by coastal pollution. The possible reason for such beaching of whales is disorientation, he said.
Officials from Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park (GoMMNP) and revenue officials have been monitoring the situation on the Tiruchendur coast. Wildlife warden of the park Deepak Bilgi said all 73 carcasses were buried. Of the whales beached on Wednesday, they managed to push 6 back to the sea, he said.
Local fishermen tried to push the whales into the sea as they started beaching on Wednesday also. Some 70 youngsters from Punnakayal and Manappad joined together and pulled two of the whales to deep sea. "We left them 10 nautical miles away. It is distressing to see them dying on the shore," said E Thennavan, president of the Tamil Nadu Meenavar Sangam at Punnakayal.
Fishermen claim that most of the whales pushed into the sea on Tuesday did not venture into deep seas. Many whales were sighted near the shore, they said.
This is the second such incident on the Tiruchendur beach in 43 years. On January 14, 1973, as many as 147 whales beached on the shore on the same stretch. They were also short-finned pilot whales, said G Sugumar, dean of the Fisheries College and Research Institute. "There are various reasons for a pod of whales to beach, but there seems to be a pattern after this incident," he said.
Local fishermen in their 50s recall, "when we were boys, we have seen a similar scene on the beach and played around the whales. But it is very disturbing to witness the same thing as adults," said Rajan, a fisherman from Manappad.