WHALES have made themselves at home off the coast of Catalunya – a total of 222 have been spotted this spring alone, nearly double the number seen in the sea-mammal 'feeding zones' identified by conservationists since they started off the 'Rorqual Project' in 2013.
Of those seen in spring 2021, around 75 have been identified through drone footage and the rest sighted by humans.
The association Edmaktub, which has been focusing on whale presence in the western Mediterranean these last eight years – especially in Catalunya and the Balearic Islands, where they are thought to settle for weeks at a time to feed – this year so far has been excellent for whale-spotting, after very few visited Spain's shores in 2019 due to a drought, and 2020 was written off as marine biologists could not go out searching for them as a consequence of the pandemic and lockdown.
But the high rainfall and low temperatures in winter and early spring in Mediterranean Spain meant an increase in plankton, particularly krill, in the area, for rorqual or fin whales to feed on.
Drones have been employed this year for the first time, says the association, meaning close-up footage of 75 whales this year has far exceeded those caught on camera in the last two 'good' years for sightings – 2018, with 45, and 2017, with 43.
Three satellite markers have been set up to follow the fin whale population's movements, and these have been key to discovering where the feeding grounds are, and how May seems to be the month when numbers are highest.
Fishermen off the coast of Catalunya have been huge allies in the project, informing Edmaktub whenever they see a whale.
Some of the biggest threats to the survival of Mediterranean whales are human-generated, such as collisions with large boats, and people out on yachts, catamarans and speedboats acting carelessly and disturbing them, Edmaktub explains.
The association stresses that laws are in place to protect whales, dolphins and other sea creatures, and which make it illegal to sail up close to them.
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