The whale drew much public and media attention. Pic: Perry O’Donovan / West Cork Times
THE fin whale which has been stranded in Baltimore Harbour for the past two days has died.
In a statement, Dr Simon Berrow, Executive Officer, of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) said that after the heavy thrashing witnessed, and filmed at about 11am this morning that the whale is now dead.
“The IWDG have been talking to the Naval Service and the Army about attempting to shoot the whale and logistics were being put in place for this evening, so fortunately the issue has been resolved.
“The IWDG will be meeting with representatives of the Defence Forces, NPWS and Local Authorities to attempt to put in place a protocol on how to deal with this situation in the future.
“We have done this in the past but clearly this needs to be revisited.
“This has been an unprecedented event, given its location, but whale populations are increasing and whales will die and no doubt we will be faced with a similar situation again in the future.
“The IWDG wish to thank all those who helped and supported us in our attempt to address this situation and encourage those who have been following the incident to join us and get involved.”
Hundreds of people descended on the village to witness the 18-metre at close quarters, something that has drawn criticism from some wildlife groups who claimed it could place more undue stress on the animal.
Fin Whales are the second largest of whale species after the Blue Whale and can grow up to 25 metres in length.
It is now planned to transport the carcass to the Waterford Institute of Technology were it will be used for marine research.
Sadly, despite assurances in your article above, the issue of disposal has not been resolved.
Some person, or, persons, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the east end of Carthy’s Island, which is within the SAC (Special Area of Conservation) of Roaringwater Bay, an appropriate location to leave the whale decompose. Reliable experts give a time-span of 2-3years for the decomposition process !
Now, 2 months on, the resultant effects, i.e. putrefying smell, blubber oil slick, degeneration of wildlife activity, are all evidence that , if this is the protocol on how to deal with this issue, as IWDG, Defence Forces, NPWS and Local Authorities, presumably, collectively decided, the protection and upkeep of our SAC’s are, most definitely, in the wrong hands.
This was never a good idea and done without proper research by a bunch of idiots, I am no expert by a long shot but even I knew this would happen,
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“He who shouts loudest”, may win.
It looks like a small group of West Cork people may get there way and “Fineena” is to be removed and dumped out past the Fastnet and forgotten about in the next few days.
Following a meeting out at the Carthy’s Islands between Niall O’Mahony, Diarmuid Minihane and Jerry Smith with Tom McCarthy, Denis Quilan and Eanna Timoney from Schull, it has been decided to remove the whale from its current location and dispose of it at sea. An inordinate amount of pressure has been placed on Niall to remove the carcass due to a number of research papers available on the internet that state that whales in general have acquired high levels of heavy metals and other toxins. This has led to a degree of scare mongering and recent comments that “It is strongly evident that local wildlife in the immediate area is “degenerating” have whipped things up into a frenzy. We have been checking on the whale on a regular basis and haven’t seen any evidence of this as birds, seals and other cetaceans are still in the locale. We were there only last Sunday and spotted small pods of Harbour Porpoise to the east and the south of the Carthy’s and a Minke along the south side of Long Island. At the end of it all, I don’t think the decision is reversible as this is obviously a case of ‘he who shouts loudest’.
Sometimes the internet has a lot to answer for. People seem to think if it’s on the internet it’s fact. Do a search on “What happens to a whale when it dies in the ocean” and you’ll see how great it is for nature. Or have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_fall . (When a whale dies in shallow water, its carcass is typically devoured by scavengers over a relatively short period—within several months. However, in deeper water (depths of 2,000 m/6,600 ft or greater), fewer scavenger species exist, and the carcass can provide sustenance for a complex localized ecosystem over periods of decades.[3] Some of the organisms that have been observed at whale falls are giant isopods, squat lobsters, bristleworms, prawns, shrimp,lobsters, hagfish, Osedax (bone-eating worms), crabs, sea cucumbers, octopuses, clams, and even deep-sea sleeper sharks. Whale falls are often inhabited by large colonies of tube worms. Over 30 previously unknown species have been discovered at whale falls.[citation needed])
Some people just don’t understand nature. Whales in general die at sea and then spend months floating around until the gases are gone and the fats waste away and then they either end up on a shore line somewhere or sink to the bottom and either way nature, like always, deals with it. There was a dead whale came into the rocks a few hundred yards from Baltimore Harbours mouth a few years ago and got stuck in between the rocks and nature took over and took care of the problem. It became a food source for millions of sea creatures. It happens on ever coastline in the world on a regular basic. The only difference this time was we wanted to see if we could be in control of where it happened and get a chance to recover the skeleton and use it to teach people about the whales in Irish waters. Which, as we now know, some of them need educating.
This was a chance to teach people about the life and beauty of the biggest creatures on this earth and it now looks like because of the a few, that chance may be gone.