Officers led by DMCR REgion 5 Chief Wissanu Chaengjai are using a catamaran marine survey vessel and a drone to scour the waters between the southern reaches of Phang Nga Bay Marine National Park to south of Phuket.
So far the search has found one normal-coloured Omura’s whale north of Koh Racha Noi, the DMCR has confirmed.
The whale was about nine metres long and was swimming quite quickly, as if it were feeding, the DMCR officers noted.
Joining the search team is Dr Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong, DMCR Specialist in Research on Resources and Environment in Marine and Coastal Ecosystems and former director of teh Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC).
Dr Kongkiat explained that the search for the albino Omura’s whale, initially reported as seen off Phi Phi Island on Jan 1, was especially important as very little is known about Omura’s whales and that one being albino likely indicated a variation in its genes.
The search began after Christine Rehm and Frank Klose, owners of S/Y Micromégas II, reported sighting two Omura’s whales near Hin Bida, near the Phi Phi Islands, about 3pm on Friday (Jan 5).
Both whales appeared to be white in the water, reported Christine and Frank.
The search also follows two confirmed sightings of Omura’s whales on Jan 1. The first sighting on Jan 1 was by officers from the Mu Ko Surin National Park, who photographed the rare marine animal near the archipelago.
The second confirmed sighting of Omua’s whales on Jan 1 was near Koh Hei, just a few kilometres southeast of Phuket. That sighting was by local boat tour operation Happy Ours Phuket, with two whales spotted: one appearing to be all white, the other the more normal grey colour.
The Jan 1 sighting near Phuket was confirmed through video footage of the whale swimming and surfacing. The confirmation came by clear identification of the ridges on its head, Assoc Prof Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine biologist and lecturer at Kasetsart University, reported on Saturday (Jan 6).
Omura’s whales had previously been mistaken for Bryde’s whales as both species look similar. Scientists now know that Omura’s whales are not related to Bryde’s whales at all.
The dorsal fin of the Omura’s whale is similar to that of a Bryde’s whale, but is more curved and located more towards the tail. Also the head of an Omura’s whale has one convex ridge. Bryde’s whales have three.
Khun Goy, of the Happy Ours Charter Team, explained that the pair of whales were spotted about nine kilometres south of Coral Island (Koh Hei) at about 4pm on Jan 1. The DMCR was informed of the coordinates of the sighting.
“We found two whales that are thought to be the same type of whale. swimming together. One was beautiful white. The other one is a normal colour. Our family (Khun Goy) named the white whale ‘Thalang’ and the normal-coloured whale ‘Bukit’,” Khun Goy reported.
Khun Goy speculated that eco-marine tours would “explode” if the whales remained in the area, especially the albino.
Dr Thon noted that finding an albino Omura’s whale as “double rare”. The probability of sighting an albino Omura was about “one in 10 million”, he said.
Dr Thon is currently with the team south of Phuket.
“The discovery of an albino whale has led to a major survey of rare marine animals since the beginning of the year. The minister ordered both the Marine Department and the National Parks Department to survey continuously for three days, using drones and modern technology together with field survey teams led by experts from the DMCR,” he explained.
“Whether we find an albino whale or not, this information is very useful because it is a survey of whales, dolphins and other rare animals in distant areas that we rarely [survey] and there is a huge demand [for the information],” he added.
“I would like to propose to the Ministry of Natural Resources [MNRE] to organise a survey like this at least two times a year in four areas of the North Andaman (Surin-Similan), around Phuket (Phuket-Phi Phi) and the South Andaman (Lanta-Rok and Adang-Ravi),” Dr Thon said.
“If you can do this, we guarantee that the Thai rare marine animal industry will take off. We will preserve and manage tourism. We can do anything if you have the information,” Dr Thon concluded.
Additional reporting by Eakkapop Thongtub