Rare whale spotted near Gwadar coast for first time

GWADAR: Fishermen along Balochistan’s coast witnessed a rare sighting of a giant whale approximately three kilometres from Gwadar, Geo News reported Monday.

The whale, as per the fishermen who captured the astonishing scenes, measured approximately 100 and 50 feet in length and width, respectively and could’ve weighed more than 150 tonnes.

It is to be noted that the sighting of whales along Balochistan’s coast is not uncommon as often dead whales wash up on these shores. However, the fishermen stressed that this is the first time a whale has been spotted at Gadani’s shores.

In the video, exhilarated fishermen could be seen expressing their excitement with some even warning the others to maintain distance as it could attack them, whereas some even joked around terming it as a shark.

Earlier this year, an Indo-Pacific finless dolphin washed up dead at Gwadar’s coast in Balochistan after being “caught and entangled” in a fishing net in February.

The dolphin was brought to the shore by fishermen without freeing it from the fishing net and had left it there as it didn’t have any commercial value.

Last year, at least six Indo-Pacific finless porpoises died due to entanglement in gillnets in Pakistan, of which three had washed up in Gwadar, he added citing data available with the WWF.

Prior to that, a 27-foot-long Bryde’s whale had washed up dead near Balochistan’s coast in a remote area of Raini Hor between Pasni and Shumal Bundar.