It’s a major concern for Margo Blackwell, the director of the College of The Bahamas Environmental Research Centre in Andors, who wants the government to put a stop to all testing in the Tongue of the Ocean until it can be determined what is causing the deaths.
A 15-ft beaked whale, believed to be a rare species, was found in Big Wood Cay about 10 miles south of where a 20,000-ton sperm whale was discovered about a month ago, not far from the AUTEC base in Andros.
Speaking on behalf of other residents on the island, Ms. Blackwell told The Bahama Journal yesterday that too many species are dieing in the area and something must be done to stop it.
“This is really, really a tragedy, and what we know of, it’s too many. Too many species are dieing, it’s unnatural and it needs to stop. They need to stop now until we figure out what is killing these [mammals],” said Ms. Blackwell.
“We want the government to stop any activity in the Tongue of the Ocean that may be affecting these animals and just give us a chance to find out. It’s just too much.”
A boater spotted the badly decomposed carcass of the beaked whale on the beach sometime on Wednesday, but unlike the sperm whale, there were no predator marks found on the body.
It was not clear yesterday when the whale died, however estimates put the time of death around four days ago.
It was also unclear if the whale beached itself and then died or if its body was washed ashore.
The fisheries officer who examined the whale on Thursday said it was unlikely that tests would prove useful at this stage.
Director of the Department of Marine Resources, Michael Braynen told The Bahama Journal that because of the advanced state of decomposition, the likelihood of finding anything useful was very slim.
However, he said officials were discussing the possibility of sending a vet to conduct a more detailed examination of the whale’s body.
Mr Braynen also noted that the number of reported marine mammal deaths in the area in the past year-and-a-half seems unusual.
“The Tongue of the Ocean is not the only area of very deep ocean in The Bahamas,” he noted. “There is also very deep water in the Exuma Sound and you don’t have the same number of whales washing up, or at least that have been reported.”
Beaked whales are the least known of all cetaceans. Some have never been seen alive and have only been studied after dead animals were washed ashore. They generally live in deep water far from land and have escaped live studies.
Ms. Blackwell also wanted to know if AUTEC flies over the shoreline more than twice a day, how could it not see the whale, and why didn’t they report it to the Department of Marine Resources if they did see the mammal?
“What we want to know, isn’t there protocol in place to at least notify fisheries that there is a dead whale,” she said.
Ms. Blackwell said that if tests cannot be carried out to determine the cause of death, the whale will be buried and its bones preserved for the museum planned for the island.
Efforts are also underway to contact marine mammal specialists who may be able to determine if samples could be taken from the whale, despite its extensive decomposition.
When the sperm whale was found last month, residents said it was the fifth incident within one year; however, scientists said that was consistent with similar activity on the U.S. eastern seaboard.
In the meantime, officials are still awaiting the test results from samples taken from the sperm whale in hopes of learning what caused the marine mammal’s death.
By: Erica Wells, The Bahama Journal
