PCG, Romblon folk shoo whales back to sea

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Coast Guard on Wednesday lauded local fisher folk for helping out in the efforts that led to the immediate and safe return of some 100 melon-headed whales stranded off the coast of Romblon on Tuesday. Radio dzBB’s Carlo Mateo quoted Coast Guard commandant Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo as describing the local villagers as heroes for coming to the rescue when they spotted the whales off the coast of Odiongan town, a third class municipality in central Romblon. The latest stranding happened on the heels of an earlier similar incident in Bataan where some 300 melon-headed whales suddenly emerged off the shore off Pilar and Orion towns. Local fishermen and authorities waded into the water and successfully drove the whales away, but not after three whales had died. Picking up lessons from the Bataan experience, Tamayo said the Coast Guard employed safer and more effective measures to help the mammals make their way back to deeper parts of the ocean. Tamayo said he has already mobilized his team to troop to the waters and conduct regular monitoring to avoid a similar scenario from happening anew. The Coast Guard official said he thinks the whales could have lost their way as an effect of global climate change. Over the weekend, around 200 pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins also found their way off the shorelines of the Narcoopa Beach on King Island, a part of Tasmania. Only around 60 of them were safely ushered back to the sea. The series of whale stranding has already prompted the International World Ocean Conference to take up the matter when its members convene, the report added. Perplexed experts have yet to ascertain the actual cause of the unusual behavior of the whales, with some attributing it to a seismic movement beneath the ocean while others saying such whales tend to stay close together at all times. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV