The Republic of Seychelles became part of the Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary in 1979 after decades of hunting. Now scientists are sighting blue whales in these exotic waters once more. <\/p>
For years, little\u00a0was known about the occurrence of cetaceans<\/a>\u00a0in the western tropical Indian Ocean. Now new studies\u00a0have confirmed the presence of blue whales<\/a> in Seychelles’ waters, offering hope for the future.<\/p> In two field seasons, scientists\u00a0from\u00a0the University of Seychelles<\/a>, Florida International University<\/a> and Oregon State University<\/a> recorded 23 species of whale in the waters of the\u00a0Seychelles, including blue whales.\u00a0Five confirmed blue whale sightings have been made in the past five years.<\/p> Seychelles was a hunting ground for Soviet whalers in the 20th century. After joining the International Whaling Commission<\/a> in 1978, the nation lobbied successfully to protect the Indian Ocean from whaling. A year later in 1979, the nation\u00a0became part of the Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cNever in my life would I have imagined that the biggest animal on planet Earth cruises our oceans here in Seychelles,” said Ms Dillys Pouponeau, a research assistant at the Save Our Sea Foundation D\u2019Arros Research Centre <\/a>(SOSF-DRC).\u00a0<\/p> \u201cTo me this was big news because it reflects the productivity of our oceans. It shows how regulations have helped to protect this species after whaling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p> Dr Kiszka, a biology professor at Florida International University and a research associate at the Island Biodiversity and Conservation Centre at the University of Seychelles, added: \u201cBlue whales are protected because they are no longer legally hunted, but they still face a range of threats.<\/p> \u201cShipping traffic causes noise pollution and can lead to collisions. Climate change is changing the distribution and abundance of their key food, krill<\/a>.\u201d<\/p> Of the four subspecies we know exist, it\u2019s the pygmy blue whale that visits Seychelles. \u201cWe now need to increase our research efforts to assess the abundance of these blue whales and discover why they are using Seychelles\u2019 waters. We also need to raise awareness and help the government to protect them better,\u201d said Dr Kiszka.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cThe coolest thing is that our work here involves studying not only the smallest animals alive, zooplankton, but also the biggest, blue whales. I hope that we can share this with more students from Seychelles, and from further afield.<\/p> \u201cThese blue whales have no borders; we need to conduct research on an appropriate scale. And we need to collaborate internationally. It\u2019s a phenomenal opportunity to understand these blue whales,\u201d concluded Dr Kiszka.<\/p> More fascinating whale facts<\/strong><\/p> The Republic of Seychelles became part of the Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary in 1979 after decades of hunting. Now scientists are sighting blue whales in these exotic waters once more. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":33809,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/11\/blue-whales-return-to-the-sanctuary-of-seychelles.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/11\/blue-whales-return-to-the-sanctuary-of-seychelles-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/11\/blue-whales-return-to-the-sanctuary-of-seychelles-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/11\/blue-whales-return-to-the-sanctuary-of-seychelles-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/11\/blue-whales-return-to-the-sanctuary-of-seychelles-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/11\/blue-whales-return-to-the-sanctuary-of-seychelles-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/11\/blue-whales-return-to-the-sanctuary-of-seychelles-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Republic of Seychelles became part of the Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary in 1979 after decades of hunting. Now scientists are sighting blue whales in these exotic waters once more.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/33808"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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