Whale Carcasses Found Floating In Bunaken National Park Waters

Whale carcass evacuated by Bunaken Waters Team (doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - A whale carcass that cannot be identified yet, was found by the patrol team 'Smart Resort Bunaken'. The whale carcass was then evacuated from the waters of Liang Beach, Bunaken National Park area, Manado City, North Sulawesi.

"The whale carcass is difficult to identify because of its damaged condition, so the cause of death is not known. The team found the whale carcass on Friday afternoon while on a patrol of visitors," said Genman Hasibuan, head of the National Park Bunake Center, as quoted by Antara, Saturday, January 30.

Anticipating the stench, the patrol team then evacuated the whale carcass to the waters of Alung Banua which is located far from the settlement, took it into the mangrove forest and tied it up so it would not be carried away.

Hasibuan said that in 2014 it was recorded that a whale stranded in Tombariri waters, outside the southern part of Bunaken National Park, was a sperm whale (physeter macrocephalus) about 12 meters long, two meters wide and two meters high.

Then the 'Melon Head Whale' (peponocephala electra) or the electra dolphin, a dolphin species often classified as a 'blackfish'. This species measuring about 2.7 meters long and weighing 210 kilograms, washed ashore in Kumu waters, SPTN Region II on December 2, 2018.

He added that several types of whales that frequently cross the waters of Bunaken National Park include 'Sperm Whale-Blue Whale (Physeter macrocephalus),' Dwarf Sperm Whale-Kate Sperm Whale (Kogia simus), 'Short Finned Pilot Whale - Short Finned Pilot Whale ( Globicephala macrorhynchus).

Furthermore, 'Melon Headed Whale' - Melon Head Whale (Peponocephala electra), 'Killer Whale' - Killer Whale (Orincus orca), and 'Pygmy Killer Whale' - Kate's Killer Whale (Feresa attenuate).

Hasibuan added that the field staff of the Bunaken National Park Office have carried out regular monitoring to see the current situation in the area.

"Given the limited number of officers compared to their working area, in the future we will work together with the local fishing community to monitor the presence of whales and dolphins in Bunaken National Park so that they remain safe and undisturbed," he said.