Several reasons behind washing up of whales in eThekwini – expert
A curator at the South African Association for Marine Biological Research says multiple factors could be behind the recent washing up of whale carcasses in eThekwini.
One emerged at Umhlanga on Monday.
A few days later, a mother whale and her calf, believed to have died during birth, were discovered at Amanzimtoti.
Another whale carcass washed up at Peace Cottage in Umdloti.
City officials say they have transported the carcasses to a landfill for proper disposal.
They say they are also monitoring the situation before they can declare beaches safe for swimming.
Gabrielle Harris from SAAMBR says increased beachgoer activity and natural causes may explain the rise in carcass sightings.
"We also have the stranded network, and the interface between the wild and the people has been reduced. The Humpback Whale and the Southern Right Whale populations have also increased."
However, she says it can't be denied that humans do have an effect on oceans that can cause the demise of animals.
"Climate change definitely causes an effect because the movements of fish, for example, might cause animals to come more closely in. There are other things, such as chemical pollution, with all the things in our farms where we are using chemicals to grow vegetables, wash down into rivers and end up in the sea and in the food chain.
"It has been researched and documented that orcas, whales and dolphins usually their first calf dies as a result of the mother letting down all the toxins that she has collected through her life, which are held in her blubber, into the milk."
