First , happy Eid
Second , I will just keep it light here in the blog before returning to serious stuff.
Now aside from the depressing economic as well diplomatic news , the major news catching the attention of Egyptians especially on Social media was about the North Coast's Whale.
Yes, a whale suddenly appeared so close to Egypt's Western North Coast and it became the talk of the town.
It started with a Facebook video uploaded on 5 July by Sherif Aly Dabbous showing what appeared to be a small size whale in one of the lagoons inside the famous upscale Marina resort
The video which was sent to Mr. Dabbous was surreal because you can hear the two men speaking in Arabic as you can hear one of them saying that the people on the other bank of the lagoon were hurling rocks at the poor creature.
I was amazed at first because I did not know that there were whales living in the Mediterranean in the first place. I have always thought that they used to come from the Indian ocean to the Red Sea.
But I was wrong, whales do live in the Mediterranean sea. The fin whale and sperm whale live in the Mediterranean and they are endangered species.
Still , I did not understand what a whale even a small size one will do in shallow waters like in Marina.
On 6 July right after Eid Prayers , Mr. Yasser Said uploaded photos and videos showing the small whale swimming closely near to the beach at "Green beach" resort , which is East of Marina resort. "8 km away from Marina"
Said says that he filmed the video at 7.30 AM.
On the same day at 8:16 am , Mr. Mahmoud Hendy uploaded another video showing the small sized whale near the beach at "Green beach"
Another video from "Green Beach" , I do not know when it was shot though.
On 7 July , a friend of mine at "Badr resort" reported that she saw the little whale and tried to take photos for that rare guest we usually see in foreign films and TV series only. Badr resort is East of Marina.
The photos are not clear but this video is clear somehow.
I notice in all videos that the wind has been strong in the last couple of days. It seems that the Whale is heading east !! I am worried on the poor creature if it heads to Alexandria !!
On the same day , Egypt's ministry of environment issued a statement about the whale incident.
According to the ministry , this marine creature is a fin whale which is known to live in Egyptian territorial waters. From the endangered species , the environment ministry stated the fin whale is not dangerous and eats planktons.
People are praising the statement because it is very rare in Egypt to find a ministry issuing a clear and direct statement like that.
Threatened by fishing boats and noise , the ministry asked the citizens not to take any aggressive action against that whale wandering in the sea. " Not to hurl rocks at it like those idiots in Marina who became the joke of the social media in Egypt !!
The ministry also asked the citizens to take photos of any marine creature like whales , dolphins and sea turtles. Dolphins are common in the red sea while Sea turtles are common in the Mediterranean especially in Alexandria.
An Expert diver says that this whale should be helped and guided into deeper waters because it can die in shallow waters.
Interestingly, I found that in 2011 a whole family of humpback whales reached to Hurghada
As one searches online to get more information about whales in Egypt.
It turns out that a huge whale appeared on the shores of Marsa Matrouh , West of Marina and died there in May.
The Egyptian navy forces along with armed forces had to transfer it from the shore.
The transfer of the dead whale was controversial on the social media.
I do not know where it was buried by the way.
Anyhow , I think our sciences courses should be updated to include the fact that Egypt got whales in its territorial waters and that those whales should be attacked !!
No need to panic , we got whales in our seas and we should keep them safe.
Second , I will just keep it light here in the blog before returning to serious stuff.
Now aside from the depressing economic as well diplomatic news , the major news catching the attention of Egyptians especially on Social media was about the North Coast's Whale.
Yes, a whale suddenly appeared so close to Egypt's Western North Coast and it became the talk of the town.
It started with a Facebook video uploaded on 5 July by Sherif Aly Dabbous showing what appeared to be a small size whale in one of the lagoons inside the famous upscale Marina resort
The video which was sent to Mr. Dabbous was surreal because you can hear the two men speaking in Arabic as you can hear one of them saying that the people on the other bank of the lagoon were hurling rocks at the poor creature.
But I was wrong, whales do live in the Mediterranean sea. The fin whale and sperm whale live in the Mediterranean and they are endangered species.
Still , I did not understand what a whale even a small size one will do in shallow waters like in Marina.
On 6 July right after Eid Prayers , Mr. Yasser Said uploaded photos and videos showing the small whale swimming closely near to the beach at "Green beach" resort , which is East of Marina resort. "8 km away from Marina"
On the same day at 8:16 am , Mr. Mahmoud Hendy uploaded another video showing the small sized whale near the beach at "Green beach"
فيه حوت عندنا في القرية في البحر— Sa7ar Abd el-Mohsen (@OnewaySpeaker) July 7, 2016
عايش وبيغطس وبيطلع هوا وكله
الصور مش باينة اوي pic.twitter.com/IivNgg3R7G
The photos are not clear but this video is clear somehow.
شوفنا الحوت في الساحل pic.twitter.com/QEGb3weWdZ— Donia (@DoniaIskandar2) July 7, 2016
I notice in all videos that the wind has been strong in the last couple of days. It seems that the Whale is heading east !! I am worried on the poor creature if it heads to Alexandria !!
On the same day , Egypt's ministry of environment issued a statement about the whale incident.
According to the ministry , this marine creature is a fin whale which is known to live in Egyptian territorial waters. From the endangered species , the environment ministry stated the fin whale is not dangerous and eats planktons.
 |
| ِA photo for the fin whale "Egypt's Ministry of environment" |
Threatened by fishing boats and noise , the ministry asked the citizens not to take any aggressive action against that whale wandering in the sea. " Not to hurl rocks at it like those idiots in Marina who became the joke of the social media in Egypt !!
The ministry also asked the citizens to take photos of any marine creature like whales , dolphins and sea turtles. Dolphins are common in the red sea while Sea turtles are common in the Mediterranean especially in Alexandria.
An Expert diver says that this whale should be helped and guided into deeper waters because it can die in shallow waters.
Interestingly, I found that in 2011 a whole family of humpback whales reached to Hurghada
As one searches online to get more information about whales in Egypt.
It turns out that a huge whale appeared on the shores of Marsa Matrouh , West of Marina and died there in May.
May 2016 : A whale on the shores of Matrouh
May 2016 : The dead whale of Matrouh
 |
| The Matrouh whale transferred to his burial |
Anyhow , I think our sciences courses should be updated to include the fact that Egypt got whales in its territorial waters and that those whales should be attacked !!
No need to panic , we got whales in our seas and we should keep them safe.
And they are not blaming Israel this time? Good news at last!
ReplyDeleteI the coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean in California, sometimes the whales can get beached, when they lose their grounding or whatever it is that is their communication signals. Sometimes, it is blamed on the polluting of the earth and the el-Nina' or change of weather too, making waters too warm and confusing the animals who live in the deeper waters.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this Zee. Very interesting.
In the White Desert of Egypt, I know they found whale bones from thousands and thousands of years ago.