Tuesday 4 April 2017

Namibia: humpback whale found in Walvis Bay Paaltjies beach area

#LüderitzMarineResearch #WalvisBay #WalvisBayPaaltjies #BenguelaEcosystem

Beached whale found in Walvis Bay Paaltjies area

There are worrying reports of unexplained strandings by humpback whales as well as other sealife in the past two months at the Namibian west coast.

Namibian Dolphin Project (NDP) in Walvis Bay and Lüderitz Marine Research (LMR) reported four confirmed strandings along the Namibian coastline. The number of strandings of humpback whales is unusual and no cause is known.
A similar events occurred off the coasts of South America and Australia in 2010 and apparently associated with malnutrition.

The humpback whale population off West Africa was generally regarded as large and healthy and had been growing at between 7 and 10% per year.

Two dead humpback whales discovered at Paaltjies on 26 and 29 March this year as well as another two had been discovered near Oranjemund earlier.
Some reports received state a dead Heaviside's dolphin and a dead leatherback turtle between Windpomp 14 Camp and Swakopmund on 24 March 2017.

Leatherback turtles are endangered globally including Namibia.
Humpback whales are the most common large whale species along the Namibian coast and sightings are common between June and October.

Whales stay off the coast of southern Africa in the rich waters of the Benguela Ecosystem.

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