Copied from 'News from the Canary Islands':
Another beaked whale has been found on the beach of Tierra Dorada in Fuerteventura. This is the third whale that has been found dead on the coastline of the island in 2019.
A team of five veterinarians have been studying the body of this whale, and samples taken will then be analysed at a laboratory to reach a conclusion to explain the reasons for this death, which should take around one month.
Although this is an individual incident of a stranded whale, there is currently a systematic study of beaked whales that die, not only in Fuerteventura, but across all the Canary Islands.
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If you Google "dead whales" , there seems to be a lot of this happening world wide. Here's a story about some in Ireland last summer which is interesting:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world...85576.html
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No one knows why they beach. Sonar has been blamed. Maybe the whale was injured even old age has been blamed.
Or maybe is died naturally and was washed ashore
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Another article specifically referencing beaked whale deaths around Fuerte
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/0...GLvVFX7R3A
' 'A 2003 study in Nature on the possible link between sonar and whale deaths led to Spain banning such naval exercises around the Canary Islands in 2004.
“Up until then, the Canaries were a hot spot for this kind of ‘atypical’ strandings,” said Bernaldo de Quiros. “Since the moratorium, none have occurred.”
And many of us will be familiar with the Cuvier's beaked whale skeleton at El Cotillo
http://www.islandconnections.eu/1000003/...ticle.html
Sad and fascinating at the same time.
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That's a bit worrying GF as the Spanish Navy were on manoeuvres around here not long ago, against the wishes of the island government.
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Could it be the whale that was spotted a few weeks ago ? Not sure if they stay in one place or not?
https://fuerteventura.click/Thread-The-s...ight=whale
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Coincidence that there have just been more military manoeuvres?
Whatever the cause, so sad, but everything has a lifespan and I just hope this one had reached it's natural end.
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From the Canary Island conference on Climate Change, courtesy of RTVAC:
Antonio Fernández: “the change of habitat of the cetaceans encourages contact with other marine mammals and the transmission of new diseases”.
The Professor of Animal Pathology at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria participates in the "Summit Conference on climate change" on the island.
"Fuerteventura is fortunate to have an anti-sonar moratorium since 2004, preventing massive stranding"
The professor of Animal Pathology at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Antonio Fernández, has warned today during the Climate Conference on Climate Change, organized by the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Circular Economy and R & D & I, through the Fuerteventura Biosphere Reserve, how the warming of the oceans is causing certain species of cetaceans to move from their habitats, a move that encourages contacts with other marine mammals, promoting the transmission of new diseases.
The director of the Institute of Animal Health of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Antonio Fernández, gave as an example a study led by the University of California in Davis (United States), and published in the journal Scientific Reports, which explains how The loss of sea ice in the Arctic facilitates the spread of a deadly virus that facilitates the transmission of diseases in marine mammals in the North Pacific, such as sea lions, seals and otters.
The professor explained, during his speech, how global change is affecting marine fauna, specifically cetaceans, a behavior that analyzes from the perspective of marine veterinary sciences, both in relation to pathogens or through the impact they are having human activities on them.
Fernández recognized the fate of Fuerteventura, where an agreement allowed an anti-sonar moratorium to take effect in 2004, after two years before the stranding of 14 zifios took place on the island while military maneuvers were being carried out. "This has allowed the island to be a worldwide example of success today, since there is no massive stranding," he said.
However, there are a number of activities that “by intensifying in the context of development, such as transport and mobility, have made collisions of large cetaceans become a problem, as well as the need for regulation of whale watching, as a tourist activity ”.
From the point of view of food safety, Fernández also highlighted the presence of biotoxins in fish, something that “must be subjected to control before going to consumption, to avoid human health problems, such as ciguatera” .
The university professor highlighted the role of the University Institute of Animal Health and Food Safety (IUSA) of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria as an official laboratory in the Canary Islands for this public health threat.
Throughout the morning, the interventions of the speakers invited to the conference have continued. The professor and researcher of the University Institute of Social Research and Tourism, Agustín Santana, gave the talk "Management of economic footprint and resilience in tourist islands" while the doctor in Biology, Arnoldo Santos, focused his talk on the flora and vegetation of the Canary Islands in the face of climate change
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from Radio Sintonia:
Playa Blanca, in Fuerteventura,was the setting chosen by the Avanfuer Association to hold an awareness workshop on the stranding of cetaceans on the Canary coasts attended by about 40 people, with the aim of training 25 volunteers from various non-profit organizations and general citizens in the use of the rescue pontoon and how to provide first aid to try to save the lives of these marine mammals. Loro Parque Foundation, the University Institute of Animal Health (IUSA) of the University of Las Palmas and the Cabildo of Fuerteventura collaborated in the activity, within the framework of the CanBIO (Government of the Canary Islands and Loro Parque) and Marcet II projects.
The Canary Islands is a hotspot of cetacean biodiversity in the Atlantic Ocean and therefore it is common for specimens to appear stranded on its coasts. For this reason, various environmental and academic organizations come together to establish a response network to this situation that is aggravated by the increase in human activity and climate change.
This workshop consisted of the simulation of a massive stranding of cetaceans in which technicians from the University Institute of Animal Health explained to the attendees how the state of health of a stranded cetacean and the chances of survival are evaluated. To do this, the veterinarians used two rescue pontoons, made by Loro Parque Foundation, essential to refloat the animals and return them to the sea. These pontoons are prototypes designed specifically for this activity and thanks to these drills their functionalities are being improved and adapted to the characteristics of the strandings in the Canary Islands.
The use of this type of pontoons and a correct handling of the animals that implies calling 112 and not trying to return them to the sea without the prior evaluation of specialists, will contribute to prevent the death of stranded cetaceans. These and many other issues were widely developed in the workshop held this weekend attended by the general director of The Fight against Climate Change and Environment of the Government of the Canary Islands, José Domingo Fernández, the councilors of Sustainability and Environment of the Cabildo de Fuerteventura, Lola García and Marlene Figueroa respectively; as well as the Councilor for Beaches of Puerto del Rosario, Sonia Álamo. Given the good reception of this activity, it is expected to be repeated in all the islands of the Archipelago.
ABOUT CANBIO
CanBIO is an environmental research program funded in equal parts by the Government of the Canary Islands and Loro Parque with two million euros, which will be invested to study over the next 4 years, climate change in the sea and ocean acidification and its effects on the marine biodiversity of the Canary Islands and Macaronesia. Likewise, different research groups from the University of La Laguna and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria participate in the project, as well as other environmental volunteer groups.
MARCET II
It is an INTERREG project that pursues the technological transfer, in terms of conservation of marine living resources in Macaronesia, to the productive sectors of the 4 archipelagos that make up the region. It is led by the IUSA and participates in loro Parque Foundation, the University of La Laguna, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canarias, as well as other academic, scientific and non-profit institutions from the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde.
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