Whales

Three pilot whales and one dolphin died of their injuries following the mass beaching near the city of Panadura, south of the capital Colombo.

The rescue was conducted by the navy, with help from environmental protection officers, police and local residents.

It's thought to be the largest stranding in Sri Lanka. It is not known why whales beach themselves.

Local villagers defied a coronavirus curfew to join the navy and coast guard and help push the small whales back into deeper water so they could swim out into the ocean.

The mass stranding on the west coast of the island was discovered on Monday.

Marine biologists are scrambling to save the remaining pilot whales in a tricky operation likely to take days.

It's unknown what drew the whales to the shore. Whale beachings are common in the region, but one of this size has not been seen since 2009.

Scientists from the Tasmanian Maritime Conservation Program said the whales were found in three groups across Macquarie Heads - a remote tip of the island with limited vessel and road access.

Some 20 commercial operators take thousands of tourists to swim with whales in the Vava'u island group, one of the most important breeding grounds for Oceania humpback whales, an Auckland University of Technology study said.  

Humpbacks spend the months of July to October in Tonga to give birth before travelling back to Antarctica for the summer. 

Study findings suggest that tourism activities are disturbing mother-calf pairs, the focus of nearly 80 per cent of tours. 

The bodies were found last week on a small island about an hour's boat ride from the capital of Nuku'alofa.

Photos show the carcasses washed up onto the beach and nearby rocks.

Prison officer Kolianita Feke told Yahoo7 he stumbled upon the whales' remains.

"Early in the morning we walked around the island and saw them, but they were already dead for a few days," Mr Feke said.

"They were shot with a gun. It looked like they had a hole near the head area, or near their mouth."

Whale watching and swimming with the whales are key element of the Tongan tourism package but Aunofo Havea Funaki, one of the founders of the sector, says the number of operators has reached unsustainable levels.

Aunofo said, at times, last year there were up to 20 boats operating in a small area.

She raised this matter of unsustainability at a whale conference in Nuku'alofa earlier this month and is confident that the government will reduce the number of licences issued for the new season, starting in July.

Presenting during a side show at the ‘Whales in a changing Ocean’ conference at the Tanoa Dateline International Hotel in Nuku’alofa Wednesday, the Trusts rep, Ms Aline Schaffar said their current exhibition at the Tijibaou Gallery in Noumea reflects these important messages.

“The exhibition goes in line with the fact that we are celebrating Year of the Whales and we had artists from New Caledonia and the region come over to Noumea for three weeks and work on getting the messages out in art form,” she said.

Twenty two (22) year old Lahaina Tatafu grew up and believed she would one day become a lawyer.

In fact she was determined as a young seven year old that she would be a legal bird

Although her father Sam is a well-known qualified diver, Lahaina never had any inclination towards the sea and what it had to offer.

Sam is also a former naval officer and trains local naval officers and others in diving.

But fate changed and Lahaina is now dubbed Tonga’s own ‘Moana’, having developed to be a master whale tour guide and swimmer.