A half-decomposed whale, believed to be of a baleen species, has washed ashore on Kuakata beach. The Kuakata Dolphin Rokkha Committee believes only about half of the whale, estimated at 30 feet long, may have washed up because it had rotted.

KM Bachchu, a member of the Kuakata Dolphin Rokkha Committee, first spotted the whale at 8am on Saturday (3 September) in the Jhaubon area, 2 km east of Kuakata's zero point.

Bachchu said the whale is thought to have died at sea 20 to 25 days earlier and was washed in by the morning high tide. Because it had rotted, its full size cannot be told, but the part that washed ashore is about 30 feet long.

Sagorika Smriti, an associate researcher with the ECOFISH-II Bangladesh project of WorldFish, a research organisation working on the blue economy, the coastal environment and biodiversity, told Jago News it could not yet be said for certain whether it is a baleen whale. Because it is so decomposed, it is hard to determine its species and age, so senior researchers are being consulted, she said.

Ruman Imtiaz Tushar, team leader of the Kuakata Dolphin Rokkha Committee, said it was not clear to him what caused the whale's death. A similar whale washed ashore in 2018, and two whales of this species have now been seen at Kuakata, he said.

Abul Kalam Azad, Mohipur range officer of the Forest Department, said he had received news of the whale. Because it is decomposed and large, it is taking some time, but he has sent people to take action, he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.