Fluker, a fin whale marine sanctuary Pelagos, situated between Italy, France and Monaco, is in a critical condition, alarm, Friday 24 July, the NGO WWF. “She is in a state of leanness terrible “, informed the association, which hopes to draw attention to the impact of human activities on cetaceans. Fluker was already recognizable in the caudal fin (” fluke ” in English) already half amputated. But recently, there has been less than a year, the cetacean lost the rest of his tail. The Pelagos sanctuary is estimated that a collision with a ship or entangled in a net ” is responsible for this amputation.

The cetacean seen many times in the area in recent weeks, to the point that the authorities have called the boaters not to approach him, was filmed by a WWF team on board his boat the Blue Panda. “She is in a state of leanness terrible, we felt that it was difficult to move “, told the Agence France-Presse Arnaud Gauffier, director of programmes of the NGO. The fin whale, second largest animal in the world after the blue whale, uses its tail to propel itself and feeds, in particular of krill (small shrimp) by filtering the water when it swims.

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Difficulty feeding

today, Fluker ” can dive and feed themselves, but much more difficult than normally, which explains its thinness “, emphasized Arnaud Gauffier. At the end of June, the Pelagos sanctuary had already confirmed the presence of the whale, who seemed to be “emaciated” and had ” many parasites “. At this time, ” Fluker could move (around 100 km per day), dive and feed themselves, although with difficulty. This individual, who has astonished the scientific community for its capabilities of adaptation, however, had a chance of survival is very low “, said, Thursday, in the sanctuary, to the Agency France-Presse. “At the present time, any updates, and speculation on her state of health would appear to be premature “, he added.

In all cases, “what is especially shocking is the fact that human activities have been able to put it in this state,” insisted Arnaud Gauffier, which calls for the establishment of a “particularly sensitive sea area” in the north-western Mediterranean, very busy. This would in particular limit the speed of vessels, and the risk of fatal collision with cetaceans, while between 10 and 40 fin whales are killed each year in this way in the Pelagos sanctuary, according to WWF, which also calls for the deployment of collision warning systems and the implementation of policies to combat the fishing nets as ” ghost “.

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