First time ever in India: Blue Whale calf successfully rescued, released in deep waters off Maharashtra’s Ganpatipule | Mumbai News

MUMBAI: A Blue Whale calf — stranded off Ganpatipule in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra — was successfully rescued and led into the deep waters after nearly 35 hours on the seashore.

“It is the only successful rescue of a beached Blue Whale in India. It was strapped and at high tide it was gently pulled two nautical miles into deep sea where it vigorously swam away.It would, however, need to find its mother to survive,” said Praveen Pardeshi, president,Bombay Natural History Society.

Environmentalists call this incident “the first-ever in India“.
It was on Monday morning that Arti Kulkarni, a local environmentalist, who first put out a post on social media on the calf being stranded and locals hydrating it with sea water, said environmentalist Debi Goenka.
The range forest officer visited the site but then left soon after.
It was over 24 hours since the calf had been stranded on the shores and lying continuously exposed to the sun meant sun burns, said Goenka.
Goenka got in touch with S Temburnikar, principal chief conservator of forests, and V Reddy, principal secretary, revenue and forests.
Temburnikar responded immediately and set the rescue operation in motion.
Soon the district forest officer Girija Desai and her team arrived at the site.
The whale was covered with a white sheet, put on saline and veterinary doctor was posted full time to monitor the mammal.
All this time local residents, and NGOs continued to keep it hydrated with sea water.
The forest officer got in touch with the coast guard and the Indian Navy for equipment to lead the whale into the deep waters.
“The mammal weighed five tonnes. The coast guard tug boat was too small so the Indian Navy got its helicopter but made it clear that the mammal was too huge to be air lifted by the helicopter,” said V Ben Clement, additional principal chief conservator of forests, Western Regional Wildlife, Mumbai.
In the meantime, Pardeshi, who learned of it, got in touch with JSW which had a tug boat that could take the animal out into the deep waters.
It was strapped and around 9.30 pm on Tuesday night was gently pulled into the sea.
Whales move in a group called a pod.
Clement said the reasons for the Blue Whale drifting away from the pod and being beached could vary.
“It could be high/low tide dynamics, illness or it could be Sonar radiation (from submarines) that could have interfered with its internal navigation system.
“It was over 35 hours early Wednesday morning that it was finally released in deep sea waters around 7-8 nautical miles from the shore,” said Clement.
Goenka said beaching of whales was a global phenomenon and such incidents were only increasing.
“We don’t the exact reason why this particular whale was stranded. It could be undersea blasting by oil companies, climate change, sonar radiation…The whale was not wounded or injured so possibly its internal navigation mechanism was disrupted,” said Goenka.
Goenka said it is only in recent years that there is a study of marine ecology in Maharashtra thanks to funds from the Mangrove Foundation.
“It is difficult to get officers and scientists to work in the field. What this incident has thrown up is that we need a better rapid response. The coast guard needs to be better prepared, a list of locally available equipment needs to be in place. For once the forest department did a great job,” said Goenka.