Dead whale, dolphin wash up on Bangladeshi beach

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - A decomposed body of a giant whale and a dead dolphin washed up on the shore of Bangladesh’s southern Kuakata beach, officials said on Saturday.

Samples have been collected from the bodies to determine the cause of death, and bones of the whale were taken to preserve for research purposes, Abdullah Al Mamun, a divisional forest officer told Anadolu Agency.

The length of the whale was about 30 feet (9 meters) with a 6-foot (2-meter) width, while the length of the dolphin was 5 feet (1.5-meter) with a 2-foot (0.6-meter) width, the officer said, adding the giant sea creatures probably died some 15-20 days before they washed up on the beach.

“It is a baleen whale which is usually found in the deep sea and water with low temperature which is some 70-80 km (43-50 miles) away from the beach to the deep areas of Bay of Bengal. The cause of its death is yet to be ascertained,” Mamun added.

KM Bachchu, a member of the Dolphin Protection Committee, told Anadolu Agency that carcasses of at least four whales, 17 dolphins and 10 sea turtles washed up on the Kuakata beach since the start of this year.

Sayedur Rahman Chowdhury, a professor of Marine Sciences at the University of Chittagong, called for research in the deep sea to ascertain the actual cause of deaths.

“The Bay of Bengal is being polluted at an alarming rate. And 95% of the pollution is caused by pollutants on the land. Industrial wastes are dumped into the sea, plastic pollution, excessive use of fertilizer in agricultural land end up in the sea,” he said.

This causes damage to the sea bottom and harms necessary microbes and sea creatures that keep the sea clean and ensure a healthy sea environment, the marine expert said.