MARIVELES, Bataan — A dead whale was discovered after it washed up ashore in a fishing community here on Friday.
The species was initially identified as a Blue whale, an endangered species and one of the largest creatures ever to live on earth which can grow to over 33 meters (100 feet) in length and weigh as much as 180,000 kilos with a lifespan of over 100 years old.
A newborn Blue whale is about the size of an elephant and weighs about 2,700 kilograms.
Villagers found the whale in Sitio Boracay, Barangay Townsite here at dawn of Friday.
No one could still say as to what species the mammal belongs but fisherman Ramon Francisco at first said it was a Blue whale but later identified it as a Humpback whale.
But an inspecting team from the municipal environment and natural resources office (MENRO) of Mariveles said it was a sperm whale.
They were one, however, one in saying that the mammal was still a baby whale or calf.
Francisco said the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources provincial office told him to send them a portion of the skin and meat of the dead whale.
“Matigas ang balat (The skin is tough),” he said while he tried to cut the skin with a bolo to get some meat.
“Iiksaminin daw kung ano nangyari, kung ano nakain, plastic ba o namatay sa lason (They will examine what happened to it, what it ate, plastic or it was poisoned),” the fisherman said.
Francisco said the whale measured 2.3meters wide and 5.3 meters long.
“First time pa lang kaming nakakita ng ganitong balyena (This is the first time we saw this kind of a whale),” he said.
He added that the whale was shoved by the waves in Sitio Boracay during high tide and remained on the beach when it was already low tide. The sitio can be reached by hiking more than a kilometer along the beach.
The fisherman said they will wait for the decision of BFAR and MENRO on what to do with the whale.
Last Monday, fishermen tried to rescue two bottlenose dolphins in Samal, Bataan but they died while being transported.
