The Whales Never Stopped Coming to Gujarat’s Beaches, The Watchers Did, Pg2

Key Highlights:

• India accounts for approximately one in seven of the roughly 470 blue whale strandings recorded worldwide, with three-quarters occurring along its west coast.
• Gujarat, historically a significant site for blue whale strandings, shows a sharp decline in recorded incidents after 2000, despite evidence suggesting whales continue to frequent its coast.
• This decline is attributed to a lack of systematic recording and monitoring efforts, rather than an absence of whales.
• All cetaceans in India, including whales, dolphins, and porpoises, are protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, affording them the highest level of legal protection.
• Local fishers in Gujarat regularly sight whales, referring to baleen whales as "Maccha Raja" (king of all fish), indicating their continued presence.

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Detailed Insights:

• The article highlights a significant gap between scientific records and local knowledge regarding whale presence along the Indian coast.
• Historically, naturalists like S.T. Moses and specific compilations contributed to Gujarat's blue whale stranding records, but systematic efforts ceased after 2001.
• Recent unrecorded or poorly documented strandings, such as a blue whale in 2016 and a Bryde's whale calf in 2023, underscore the data gap.
• Maharashtra's coast, with 109 marine mammal strandings recorded in 2020-2021, demonstrates the impact of active monitoring on data collection.
• India's waters are home to 30-35 species of cetaceans and the dugong, out of approximately 120 marine mammal species globally.
• Surveys in India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) have identified Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins as the most frequently sighted and spinner dolphins as the most abundant.
• The unique Arabian Sea humpback whales are a genetically distinct, non-migratory population, with only about a hundred individuals remaining.
• Public involvement in reporting strandings to local forest departments is crucial for building a comprehensive database and aiding conservation efforts.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: An Act of the Parliament of India that provides for the protection of wild animals, birds, and plants, with Schedule I offering the highest level of protection.
• Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ): An area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, extending up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline, within which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources.
• Cetaceans: An order of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises, characterized by a torpedo-shaped body, paddle-shaped forelimbs, and a horizontally flattened tail.
• Marine Mammal Research and Conservation Network of India: A collective of marine mammal researchers and conservationists that provides resources, workshops, and maintains a database for sightings and strandings.