Giant blue whale with calf sighted off Churna Island

To the surprise of marine life experts, a gigantic mother blue whale and calf were sighted off Churna Island in the Arabian Sea on September 11, 2017.

This was the first sighting of live blue whales in Pakistan’s waters. The skipper of a fishing boat, Saeed Zaman, who has been trained by the WWF-Pakistan, spotted the very large- sized animal together with its baby in waters while fishing for tuna. 

According to the fisherman, the mother whale was around 17 metres in length, almost the same size of their fishing boat, and the calf surfaced rarely so its size could not be assessed.

Earlier, a number of skeletal remains and beached blue whales were reported from Pakistani waters. The last such dead specimen was observed at Khuddi Creek along the coast of Sindh on August 11, 2014.

Although 47 sightings of baleen whales had been reported from the coast of Pakistan in 2016, none of them could be attributed to blue whale. On 10 September this year, the WWF-Pakistan-trained fishermen recorded the first live pair of sperm whales off Gunz, Balochistan.

Blue whales are considered to be the largest animal ever to have existed on this planet with an authentic record of the length of about 30 metres. The global population of this species is estimated to be between 10,000 and 25,000 and is considered as endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.

A blue whale typically gives birth once every two to three years after a gestation period of 10 to 12 months. The calf weighs about 2.5 tonnes and is usually around seven metres in length. Despite having an enormous body, a blue whale’s diet includes nearly tiny shrimplike animals called krill or pelagic shrimp. According to experts, during certain times of the year, a single adult blue whale consumes about four tons of krill a day. 

The Arabian Sea is known to have a number of species of pelagic shrimp, which could be the reason for the presence of this animal in these waters. Muhammad Moazzam Khan, technical adviser (Marine Fisheries), the WWF-Pakistan, said first live record of a blue whale sighting and that too with a calf was a remarkable indication of the diverse marine life along the coast of Pakistan.

He attributed the recent increase in sightings of whales to the effective monitoring of the WWF-Pakistan’s crew based observer programme. More than 100 fishermen, mainly skippers, have been trained by the WWF-Pakistan to record sightings of mega-fauna (whales, dolphins, whale sharks, mobulida rays, turtles and sunfish) and to ensure the safe release of such animals in case of any entanglement. 

Through this programme, trained fishermen have so far released 60 whale sharks, 45 mobulids, 25 sunfish, 6 dolphins, one finless porpoise, five whales, 25 sea snakes, five masked boobies (seabirds) and thousands of marine turtles.

Rab Nawaz, senior director programmes, WWF-Pakistan, lauded the efforts of the fishermen in recording the clip. He pointed out that Churna Island and its immediate environment were biodiversity hot spots.

It is a known abode of large whales, whale sharks and sunfish as well as a major coral habitat, which needs to be protected.  The WWF-Pakistan is working very closely with a number of NGOs, the Ministry of Climate Change and the Forest and Wildlife Department of the Government of Balochistan to declare Churna Island as a marine-protected area. 

He urged all stakeholders for early declaration of the island as a marine-protected area in order to conserve and protect the biological hot spot, blue whales and other marine animals whose population is on the decline so that they may continue to feed, breed and bask in the area.