KARWAR: Two years later, the critically endangered Arabian Sea Humpback whale (ASHW) has once again been sighted in Arabian sea off coast, Bhatkal. This time it is not just a glimpse as it was earlier. It has surprised the people by its presence in the shallow waters of Bhatkal for more than one hour. This sighting has been recorded by a local fisherman Lokesh Moger.
After the first report of sighting a humpback whale near Netrani in 2019, it has been reported again in the Arabian sea. A whale in a playful mood has been recorded by the local fisherman- Lokesh Moger, a resident of Bhatkal.
"I have seen whales in the sea regularly. I have been fishing for the last 18 years. My first sighting of whales and dolphins started 15 years ago. But this was something unique and I had never seen this before. Not just me, even other fishermen when I showed them, were unable to identify this,” he told Express.
Lokesh who is known as Loku said that he always sights and follows the whales wherever they are sighted. “ Wherever these species are, there will be a lot of fish. It was the same with this species also. I thought this might be a normal fish, but when I went nearby. It was very huge, bigger than my deep water fishing trawl,” he said.
Loku who shot a video of the whale shared with Express and said that the local whales, sighted regularly every year, appeared to be like rabbits in front of an elephant when compared with Humpback whale.
"The water was not very deep. It might be about 100 meters. I saw this in less than one hour," he said.
Agreeing with it, Shivakumar Haragi, Asst Professor, Karwar’s Department of Marine Biology, Karnataka University Dharwad, said that the ASHWs- an extremely endangered and non-migrant Humpback whale. These whales are genetically isolated and are believed to be a new subspecies- evolved in the Indian ocean. “These species diverged from other Indian ocean populations roughly 70,000 years ago. Moreover, very little is known about these species,” he said.
Also known as the Singing whales, these species sing in phrases and themes.
Dipani Sutaria, well known marine biologist in Ahmedabad, who is working along with the State Forest department and the Ministry of Environment and Forests for critically endangered species recovery programme,said that the department was alerted about it and they have been able to record its song. A few marine experts like Praksh Mesta said that this stretch is a breeding ground for Humpback whales, Sutaria said that the study is still on, but mentioned that the male whales sing only to attract the females.
Humpback Whale grows upto 16 meters in length and is considered as the sixth largest whale in the world. The other five are Blue whale (30 meters), Fin whale (27 meters), Sperm whale (20.5 meters) Right whale and Bowhead whale (18 meters)