CONCERN IS MOUNTING for the safety of three Northern bottlenose whales who have spent more than a week in Bantry Bay, a marine watchdog is warning.
The trio, normally seen in deep seas, arrived into the bay 10 days ago.
They were last spotted off Garnish Island in the inner section of the Bay as those aboard an anchored yacht could hear them blowing throughout Thursday night and could see them from the mooring on Friday morning.
All three have been moving between the south side of Garnish Island and Eagle Point which are 6km apart. This is a distance which can be easily covered in about 30 minutes at a leisurely pace by a healthy whale.
Members of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) aboard the yacht Celtic Mist have been observing them.
IWDG member Patrick Lyne also went out on his kayak on Friday to take some acoustic hydrophone recordings, which might aid in better understanding what’s happening beneath the surface.
The group is concerned that the trio may attempt to strand themselves on a beach, which could make it very difficult to save them from dying.
Pádraig Whooley, IWDG Sightings Officer explained that even “more worryingly”, a single northern bottlenose whale has washed up dead last Thursday at Ballymacormick Point, Co Down.
Whooley said: “(This) helps us build the case, that this occurrence in Bantry Bay is not an isolated incident but part of a much bigger and rather worrying picture.”
“As this deep diving species is now showing up in both the southwest and northeast of Ireland, West Sussex- England, Glengorm in the Hebrides and Skye, Scotland as well as the Faroes.”
He noted that the “timing and inshore location of these events is curious”, and so the public’s sighting and stranding reports are critical in providing the group with the evidence they need to protect this species.
“The satellite track lines … show the expected tracks of Northern bottlenose whales as they migrate between northern feeding grounds off the Jan Mayen Ridge, northeast Iceland and low latitude breeding grounds in the Azores … always following deep water and never coming close to land,” Whooley noted.
“Given the latest sightings of this trio, watching them from shore may be problematic, as most of this land is privately owned, and so (the public’s) best chance to view them may well be by taking the Poul Gorm ferry from Glengarriff out to Garnish Island itself,” he said.
Last month, a pod of more than 50 pilot whales died after a mass stranding on a Scottish beach.
Marine rescuers were called to the scene at Traigh Mhor in North Tolsta, on the Isle of Lewis, to reports that dozens of the mammals were in difficulty.
Initial reports suggested there were about 55 animals consisting of adults and calves, but it was soon discovered that only 15 remained alive.
The British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) charity tried to refloat two of the more active whales that were low down in the water on the outgoing tide, and one got away. The other subsequently restranded and died later on, as did three others.
Pilot whales are part of the dolphin family and are the cetacean species most susceptible to mass strandings.
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