What is whale stranding and why does it happen?

Subject : Environment

Section :Species in news

In the news:

Earlier in February, 14 pilot whales were stranded near the shore of Kalpitiya, a town located on Sri Lanka’s west coast.

Details:

In 2020, the country witnessed one of the biggest whale strandings in recent history when more than 100 pilot whales beached on the western coast of Panadura.
Apart from Sri Lanka, Australia’s Tasmania has also seen mass beaching of whales. Last year in September, more than 230 pilot whales were stranded on the west coast of the region.

Whale stranding:

Whale stranding is a phenomenon in which whales are stuck on land,usually on a beach.
Other aquatic animals like dolphins and porpoises are also known to beach.
Most of the stranding events involve single animals but sometimes, mass strandings, consisting of hundreds of marine animals at a time, can happen.
- This is not a new phenomenon and have been occurring since the times of Aristotle
Reason: No clear reason has been established yet. The reasons for mass strandings are several including:
- the topography of the region,
- Illness,
- Rising temperature in the ocean
- Human activities and
- Increasing noise pollution in the oceans.
Hotspot regions: Tasmania, New Zealand‘s Golden Bay and Massachusetts’s Cape Cod in the United States.
Currently there is no ‘One-size-fit-all’ approach to prevent these mass strandling.