Whale strandings occurred frequently along the southeast coasts of India along Gulf of Mannar and Palk bay during Dec 2005 and August 2006

Afsal, V V

Rajagopalan, M S

CMFRI Digital Repository

TECHNICAL AND EXTENSION SERIESCENTRAL MARINE FISHERIES RESEARCH INSTITUTECOCHIN, INDIA(INDIAN COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH)ISSN 0254-380 XMARINE  FISHERIESINFORMATION  SERVICENo. 191 January, February, March 2007Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T&E Ser., No. 191, 2007 25Jaffrabad in Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Theother catch included Pampus argenteus (495Kg), Ilisha spp. (150 Kg), Chirocentresdorab (80 Kg) and Scombromorousguttatus (50 Kg).A catch of this magnitude by dol netters indi-cates that ‘Ghol’ moves in large shoals andwould have come to nearshore for feeding.Reported by : Jaydev Hotagi, Sujit Sundaram,C.G. Josekutty, D.G. Jadhav, Thakurdas andUmesh H. Rane. Mumbai Research Centreof CMFRI, MumbaiA bottlenose dolphin of Tursiops spp. with atotal length of 2.43 m and weighing 110 kg.was found washed ashore at Aricchalmunai,Dhanushkodi, on 17-12-2005. The carcasswas in a decayed condition.Carcass of a male bottlenose dolphin,Tursiops spp. was found in a highly decayedcondition near CMFRI Jetty, Mandapam on24-12-2005.Reported by : Afsal V.V., M. Rajagopalan,Mandapam Regional Centre of CMFRI,Mandapam.Report on stranding of dolphins1226Whale strandings occurred frequently alongthe southeast coasts of India along Gulf ofMannar and Palk bay during Dec 2005 andAugust 2006.A female baleen whale, Balaenoptera spp.was found washed ashore at Narikuzhi, northof Rameswaram, along Palk bay on 27-12-2005. The carcass was in a decomposedstate. The tail portion was injured and piecesof nets were found sticking to the tail. It wassuspected that the whale might have entrappedin a strong net used by big trawlers and dieddue to severe compression and then draggedtowards the coast by strong currents. Thecarcass measured about 14.9m in total lengthand a circumference of 6.4m. Its approximateweight was calculated as between 15-20tonnes.On 1-5-2006, carcass of a male baleenwhale, Balaenoptera spp. was found washedashore at Mandapam, along Gulf of Mannar.The body was in a highly decomposed state,exposing the skeletons at various parts. Itstotal length was 13.70m and maximum girthwas 3.80m. Estimated weight was about 12tonnes.Strandings of whales alongGulf of Mannar and Palk Bay1227Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T&E Ser., No. 191, 2007 26A young female sperm whale, Physeter mac-rocephalus, stranded live, at Agnitheerthamseashore, Rameswaram on 20-01-2006. Theforest officials with the help of fishermen res-cued the animal by taking it to deeper wa-ters. But the animal again stranded live on thenext day near Port Trust office, Rameswaram.Again measures were taken to rescue by push-ing it to deeper waters. But on 23-01-2006evening the animal washed ashore dead. Thetotal length of body was 3.3m and circumfer-ence was 1.82m.On 17-07-2006, a blue whale, Balaenopteramusculus, got stranded at Kundhukal, nearPamban, along Gulf of Mannar. It was a malespecimen and measured about 20m in length.On 4th August 2006 a whale belonging to theGenus Balaenoptera was found washedashore at Hare Island, along Gulf of Mannar.The animal could not be identified up to spe-cies level because of the highly decomposedcondition of the body.On 8th August  2006 another baleen whaleof 12 m total length and weighing 9 tonneswas washed ashore in decayed condition atKundhukal seashore, along Gulf of Mannar.Reported by : Afsal V.V., M. Rajagopalan,Mandapam Regional Centre of CMFRI,Mandapam.A male seacow, Dugong dugon of 240 cmin total length and weighing 350 kg. wasstranded dead on 20-03-2006 at Kundhukalseashore, along Gulf of Mannar.Another dugong was found washed ashoreReport on dugong strandings along Gulf of Mannar1228at south seashore of Vedalai, along Gulf ofMannar on 17-06-2006.Reported by : Afsal V.V., M. Rajagopalan,Mandapam Regional Centre of CMFRI,Mandapam.On 21.12.06, a huge catch of (4,200 kg.)Arius dussumieri was landed by a Karli dolnetter from a single haul  from a depth of 24-26 m at a distance of 40-50 km towardsGujarat. Karli dol is a fixed floating bag net,which is used by artisanal fishermen at BasseinUnusual landings of Arius dussumieri byKarli dol net at Basien Koliwada1229Koliwada for catching pomfrets. The opera-tion of this net is restricted to a depth of about24-36 m.The fishermen had actually set out for pomfretfishing and the catfish catch was unexpected.

Strandings of whales along Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay

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Strandings of whales along Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay

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