NegOr study for blue whale identification eyed

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Saturday, May 27, 2017
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DUMAGUETE City – A group of researchers and students from the Department of Biological Sciences of Florida Institute of Technology will conduct a scientific study for the identification of blue whale species in Bohol Sea.

Principal investigator Edna Sabater was in this city to request for permission to conduct the study within the municipal waters of Dumaguete and the nearby Bacong town, where a blue whale was spotted several months ago.

Sabater said they were required by existing laws to acquire a prior informed consent from concerned local government units.

The consent will be submitted as part of the application docket to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources permitting division for the issuance of a gratuitous permit, or collection permit.

Collection permits will have to be acquired from at least 15 towns to be included in the survey, Sabater said.

The encounter with “Bughaw” — the unofficial name for the blue whale seen at the waters off Dumaguete and Bacong — was one of the few sightings by locals in Bohol Sea, but there was very little research done to understand the species’ population, said Sabater.

Under the International Union for Conservation of Nature, blue whales were categorized as “endangered” globally, with few recognized discrete populations.

Sabater further said the blue whale population in Bohol Sea had not been assessed and its taxonomy remained unresolved and thereby not listed as “protected species” under Philippine laws.

The study seeks to identify the blue whale population found in Bohol Sea including that of “Bughaw” in Negros Oriental, the stock it belongs and the extent of distribution. Nobody was able to tell yet what kind of blue whale — a pygmy, a true blue whale or a new subspecies — “Bughaw” was.

Tissue samples would be used for generic studies and later on for stable isotopes that would lead to the identification of the blue whales, Sabater said.

The study group was also coordinating with the local coastguards for security. (PNA)

 

 

 

 

 

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