With this purpose we talked to Marisa Tejedor, from SECAC (society for the study of cetaceans in the Canarian archipelago), who offered us a beautiful and reassuring speech about this topic.
Marisa says that although they are all wild guesses, as it’s very difficult to foretell why the whale is alone, we mustn’t panic as the whale is in a deep enough area to move (5mts) and even can leave whenever it chooses to; it is also in an octopus area, its favourite food, so it can feed and the conditions seem to be al-right.
The whale has chosen to be there, maybe because it feels ill and it wants to reach the coast to spend its last days; maybe because it went astray and is trying to communicate, as the only anomalous datum is that it repeats very often the facing down movement, surfacing the tail, a characteristic movement of this species when trying to communicate. As she says, it is anomalous to an extent, but it’s difficult to foretell, and the rest of information they get daily about the evolution of the whale is reassuring up to now, they have even seen videos where the whale is playing with a bag.
It is clear that it is an adult specimen, and the target is to determine if this grey pilot whale belongs to this area; this can be found out thanks to some pictures they have taken of its dorsal fins, which in this species and in not young specimens dorsal fins are like finger prints, there aren’t two of them which look the same. With this they’ll be able to determine if this whale is living in the Canarian archipelago or in this area.
It’s difficult to foretell what will become of it; besides, these days the sea is not in good conditions to make further studies. Even so, the grey pilot whale is visited daily by the captains of the trip boats and by Environment, which get enough information to be reassured that the whale is al-right up to now.
Marisa Tejedor thanks the captains sailing in this area for safeguarding the distances stipulated by the law and for trying to protect the whale by warning all those who don’t keep them, which is very positive and a reason to be thankful for, as the most important of all is not to disturb the whale.
In conclusion, don’t panic, it could leave any time, the daily news are reassuring, the grey pilot whale is in its habitat and home. They’ll keep researching and looking up information that will allow them to get to know better this specimen and its species.
There is a certain social concern lately, due to several news informing about dead cetaceans found at different spots in the Canary Islands, many of them attributed to prospecting and military practices. Marisa tells us that these deaths are nothing to worry about, they are within the average rate, it happens every year, mainly at this time, when the fish that emigrate are the food of these huge cetaceans: “Up to now everything is going its normal course, and these deaths are due to natural causes”; on the contrary, this means environmental diversity, as there are 30 different species out of the 86 cetacean species that exist, that is, a 40% ( a high presence of big predators, not usual in many areas), a very important datum and representative of the quality of our waters, which provide nutrients, meaning of life.
Another heartening datum regarding petroleum is that they are trying to have this area between Lanzarote and Fuerteventura recognised by Europe, once and for all, as Community Interest Area, a hallmark which would grant us full protection.
Thanks, Marisa Tejedor, for making time for us in your busy schedule and for giving us this interesting speech. We’ll follow up the evolution of this representative of our sea, wishing it to find its pod soon because dreaming is a right that we all have…
From Fuertecharter we also thank and ask the captains of trip boats and the public in general to respect this whale, which is at home. We can enjoy its presence and beauty without disturbing it: we are living in its paradise.
FuerteCharter team.