Dead Gigantic Whale Found In Qeshm Coastal Waters

Qeshm Island, Jan 15, IRNA – Head of Qeshm Environment Protection Office said here Monday dead corpse of a gigantic 14 meter long whale was spotted at a 3 kilometer distance from island's coastal waters. Sadeq Rostami added in an interview with IRNA Monday evening, 'This dead corpse belongs to a mammal that seems to have died due to hitting the propeller of a ship, or having been caught in fishing net of a ship, or due to sea water pollution with petroleum.' He said that the victimized whale had died over ten days before being discovered (on Sunday) and ever since then it had been floating and moving very slowly due to its heavy weight, adding, 'It was not possible to conduct precise biological tests on this beautiful water dwelling creature because of the decay of the corpse, in addition that the corpse had neither a head, not a tail and we could therefore, only measure its chest fin's length.' According to him, the mammal whose type cannot be identified, was spotted with the assistance of Captain Jamali, a resident of Suza City, a suburb of Shahab District of Qeshm coastal township, over three kilometers off the coastal waters. Rostami said that the gigantic whale mammals immigrate to the Sea of Oman and the especially Persian Gulf in flocks, but the man-made threats pose hazards against their lives in these high sea traffic and partly polluted waterways. Emphasizing the necessity for preserving the lives of these sea mammals, he reiterated, 'The Relief and Rescue Network of the Sea Mammals, which has been launched in collaboration with the Mainland Plans Association, the Environment Protection Office and the Provincial Southern Coastal Environment Protection Office, and its objective has been training the fishers and the local community regarding local community on how to treat the caught, or entangled sea mammals in nets or in mud.' According to Rostami, after launching this network the coastal residents of the entire four provinces have been trained in this respect./end