[ad_1]
Port Louis, Mauritius:
At least 9 melon-headed whales washed up on the shores of Mauritius on Wednesday, in keeping with an AFP journalist on the scene, prompting hypothesis of a hyperlink to an oil spill earlier this month.
The whales, a few of which had been nonetheless alive after they had been discovered and later died, had been stranded on the south-eastern seashores of Grand Sable, and a few of them appeared to have accidents.
Local authorities official Preetam Daumoo instructed AFP he had seen 13 useless whales and one nonetheless alive. Authorities loaded a number of the our bodies into the again of a van to be taken for autopsies.
Daumoo, like different residents, stated he feared the stranding was a results of an oil spill earlier this month after a Japanese-owned bulk provider ran aground on a coral reef round 10 kilometres (six miles) from Grand Sable, spilling over 1,000 tonnes of gasoline into the pristine waters.
The damaged stem of the vessel was sunk within the open ocean on Monday.
However specialists stated it was too quickly to say what had triggered the deaths of the animals.
Owen Griffiths of the Mauritius Marine Conservation Society instructed AFP “it is probably a very unfortunate coincidence”, referring to an identical stranding in 2005.
“Likely they followed a school of fish into the lagoon, got confused, could not find their way out to sea again and tried to head out to sea directly over the coral reef instead of finding the pass. In their panic and stress they collided with corals, became exhausted and died,” he stated.
“At this stage we have no idea of cause of death. An autopsy with stomach content analysis and lung examination — to look for oil traces — needs to be done.”
“Stress to the corals”
Greenpeace referred to as in a press release for an “urgent investigation” into the reason for the strandings.
Authorities and specialists from Japan and Britain are nonetheless investigating the true extent of the ecological harm to an island whose financial system relies upon closely on tourism.
Initial studies counsel no main harm to the ocean ground or coral reef, nevertheless the remaining wreck remains to be grinding towards the reef the place it ran aground.
“If this situation continues, it could cause stress to the corals and could kill them,” stated Noriaki Sakaguchi, an ecosystems skilled with Japan International Cooperation Agency.
The crew of Japanese specialists stated Tuesday that the spilled oil has additionally reached the smooth soil of mangrove forests alongside the shoreline.
While there is no such thing as a proof of mangrove dying but, the oil might kill crops within the protected space in coming months, the crew warned.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink