Experts Worried Global Warming Can Increase The Number Of Whales Lost In Osaka Bay

Whale illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Acqumen Enterprises)

JAKARTA - Cetacean experts fear an increase in global warming could increase the number of whales lost in Osaka Bay, Japan, following the latest deaths last month.

"The Pope usually gets lost every three years," said Yasunobu Nabeshima, a guest researcher at the Osaka Natural History Museum, to CBS News, as quoted March 25.

"Until now, this phenomenon is rare. However, these incidents are increasing," he continued.

Last month's tragedy marked a second case in recent years. Nabeshima said global warming had reduced the temperature difference between the Pacific Ocean and Osaka Bay, making the strong currents of

The latest episode began in mid-January, when sperm whales were first spotted off the coast of Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. TV cameras and local authorities carefully tracked the endangered whale as it swam eastlessly towards Osaka.

Due to the loss of food, the giant squid, the whale's mouth became weak.

The body of the victim of the latest very thin sperm whale, a male whale weighing more than 30 metric tons and a length of 50 feet, was found and buried temporarily after officials decided the cost would be cheaper than transporting the carcass into the sea. After two years, the skeleton will be excavated and donated to the local museum.

One researcher told MBS TV's local network the creature will first undergo forensic analysis to determine the cause of death, age, history of injury and disease, as well as DNA tests to determine its origin. The whale trapped last year was 46 years old. The sperm whale was recorded as living for 62 years.

Experts also plan to find ambergrical chunks in the intestines of the creature, a very rare and strange wax substance produced by sperm whales from other unexplored squid and cephalopods.

Known as "gold floating" and found only at 1 to 5 percent of sperm whales, ambergris is used in French perfume. In 2021 one chunk sells for 1.5 million US dollars.

In contrast to Japan's easy-to-navigate ports such as Kobe, Osaka Bay, which serves Japan's third-largest city, are thelatins of artificial islands and peninsulas that are stockpiled, filled with amusement parks and shopping centers as well as warehouses and industrial factories.

This is actually a deadly trap for marine mammals, with many corners and gaps as well as being limited by piers and wavebreakers, making it impossible for these creatures to find their way back into blue waters.

Another sperm whale died near the mouth of the Yodo River in Osaka in January 2023. Nabeshima, from the Osaka Museum, told CBS News a herd of short-life dolphins were trapped in Osaka Bay last fall and they can be seen from Yumeshima, an artificial island and the venue for Expo 2025, which will open in April. Turtles were also stranded in the area.

Wild whales can be a big problem for local governments. Taxpayers' burdens for the burial of sperm whales stranded off the coast last year amounted to more than half a million dollars, 10 times the cost of burial on land, according to the Mainichi newspaper.

Scientists have called for new measures to keep these large animals out of harm's way, including using "acoustic prevention tools" activated with sensors housed in the Kii Strait, the entrance to the Deep Sea of the Pacific Ocean, to prevent whales from exploring near the coastline.