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FIVE rorqual whales spotted off the Costa Garraf shows these giant mammals have started their migration early this year.
Also known as the fin whale, the Balaenoptera Physalus, which grows to up to 24 metres in adulthood, is the second-largest living creature on earth and is the biggest 'visitor' to the Mediterranean.
Mainly living in shallow waters in open seas, they often get within a few hundred metres of coastlines in cold climates or in the temperate zone during their annual migration from the Ligurian Sea to the Atlantic via the Strait of Gibraltar.
One of the most common rorqual hotspots in Spain is off the Cabo de San Antonio bay on the border of Dénia and Jávea in the northern Alicante province, a dramatic cliff topped with a lighthouse and tailed with a marine reserve, and which makes up the 'pointy bit' to the right-hand side of a map of Spain level with the Balearic Islands.
Here, they are most often seen towards the end of summer or early September, although can be sighted as early as June.
Many a resident or tourist has rushed for their camera and been too late, or started their very next conversation with, “I'm sure you won't believe me, but I've just seen...”
Although in practice, what they have witnessed is very believable: Marine biologists on the east coast have started referring to the Cabo de San Antonio area as the 'Whale Way' – El Autopista de las Ballenas, or literally, the 'Whales' Motorway'.
Even though these massive mammals' passage via the Dénia-Jávea coast is, surprisingly, not newsworthy, marine conservationists studying their habits closely have not been able to pinpoint a time and location where seeing them is almost guaranteed, meaning as yet, whale-watching tours in the western Mediterranean cannot feasibly be run.
But dolphins sometimes put in an appearance in the same area, and some residents and holidaymakers on boat trips or out on their own yachts have occasionally described seeing these friendly creatures come right up to their craft and beg for food.
In the Costa Garraf area of the province of Barcelona, however, the chances of seeing a fin whale may even be considerably higher.
According to scientists from the Edmaktub Association working on the Rorqual Project (Proyecto Rorcual), over the eight years they have been studying the whales' presence, they have come to the conclusion that when these animals visit, they set up camp for a while.
“These whales are not just passing through; they actually visit the Catalunya coast to eat,” says a Rorqual Project spokesperson.
“It seems the sea waters off the Costa Garraf are in fact a feeding zone for the fin whale.
“Over these last eight years, we've been able to identify 132 whales, and have noticed that they remain in the area for days, or even weeks.
“This seems to demonstrate that the animals do not, in fact, stay in the Ligurian Sea all summer to feed themselves, as was believed until now.”
On Wednesday this week alone, the team of marine biologists caught snapshots and video footage via drone of five rorqual whales, all of them about six miles out to sea from the coastal town of Vilanova i la Geltru (Barcelona province).
Favourable sea and weather conditions this year appear to have brought them to Spain's shores early, and more sightings are expected over the next few weeks.
They were fairly numerous in 2018, their numbers shrunk noticeably in 2019, and in 2020, with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and three-month lockdown until the end of May, nobody was able to go out and watch for them, so the extent of their presence then is not known.
As part of Proyecto Rorcual's work, in addition to studying the whales' feeding habits, they are campaigning to raise awareness of the man-made risks this endangered species faces off Spain's coasts.
These include potential collisions with ships, and changing sea conditions caused by climate change, both of which need to be mitigated to ensure their survival.
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