The 27-foot-long Bryde’s whale washed up dead off the coast of Balochistan in the remote area of Raini Hor between Pasni and Shumal Bandar on Saturday, an official said in a statement.
The presence of Bryde’s whale, scientifically known as Balaenoptera brydei, has been reported on several occasions across Pakistan, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said in a statement.
“A whale was found dead on the beach of Sarabandan in Pasni district,” said Abdul Rahim Baloch, deputy director of the environment department.
He said traces of fishing nets were found on the whale’s body, adding that the endangered species apparently died after getting entangled in fishing gear.
In 2022, four individuals of this species were stranded on the Pakistan coast. “This approximately 27-foot-long whale appears to have become entangled in fishing gear, which can be seen wrapped around the whale,” said Muhammad Moazzam Khan, WWF technical advisor. statement.
There were also recent records of Bryde’s whale stranding in Iran.
WWF officials expressed concern that the endangered species is under serious threat in the Arabian Sea, after large numbers of strandings of this species were recently recorded off the Arabian Sea.
The International Whaling Commission, in its meeting this year, also recorded its concern over the continued stranding of this whale in the Arabian Sea and insisted on starting a study on the behavior of this whale in the Arabian Sea.
In 2019, a 31-foot-long Bryde’s whale was found dead on a remote rocky shore near Gunj along the Balochistan coast.
According to fishermen, the live specimen was found entangled in fishing nets off the coast of Daran on November 26, 2019.
They tried to separate the animal but could not succeed as it was too huge and aggressive, so they abandoned the rescue operation.
