LEGAZPI CITY –– Five more dead melon-headed whales were washed ashore on Thursday night, bringing the number of whales to have died off the waters of San Andres town in Catanduanes to 14.
Nonie Enolva, spokesperson of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Bicol, said the five dead whales were found at the shoreline of Barangay Bonot, where nine dead whales were also found earlier around 10 a.m.
Enolva, in a phone interview, said the dead whales were subjected to necropsy, a procedure in which dead animals undergo an examination of all organs and the collection of tissue samples.
After dissecting and collecting organs, tissues, and bone samples, the fishery technician had the whales immediately buried at the site, she said.
Enolva said initial findings indicate that the whales suffered acoustic trauma due to shock waves triggered by blast fishing.