The Basque whale is disappearing earlier than planned: Only 356 heads remain at sea
- The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, which monitors the survival of the last specimens of the Basque whale or the Net (Eubalaena glacialis), calls the alarm: if in the previous calculations it was said that 400 animals of this kind were still alive, the last count has reduced its number to 356. That whale that is about to disappear is the whale that until the Middle Ages appeared on the coast of Euskal Herria.
Wikipedia in Euskera the flame of the Basque whale and the whale of the block. If I were French, franquche de l'Atlantique nord, baleine noire de l'Atlantique nord and baleine de Biscaye. Glacial right whale and Basque whale. English also joins the Basques with the North Atlantic whale Eubalaena glacialis: "The Basques were the first to hunt this species for their trade. Whale catches began in the Gulf of Bizkaia in the 11th century. These whales were initially hunted primarily to grease (illuminate the streets of cities with grease), but as meat counseling technology advanced they also gained importance as food." As the whales of the seas of Europe were destroyed, the Basques had to touch Iceland, Greenland and the lands that today make up Canada, with the whale's cravings.
It was known that the net whale was heading for parking, but now the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium has warned that this disappearance could occur within 10 to 12 years. In January 2018, the U.S. Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) estimated that only 412 whales remained alive, a year later 366 heads were counted and has now been reduced to 356. In the last three years 31 whales have died and another 11 have been contuded with deadly injuries in official numbers in the area of the United States and Canada. But experts believe that most dead whale carcasses are never found and are convinced that the number of deaths is much higher.
The last remaining whales, although officially not hunted by anyone, remain largely victims of fishermen: they continue to be run over and wounded in the nets, ropes, cables and other fishing instruments of the great steamships.
There's even worse news: there's no more life left in this species than 70 child whales. Faced with these figures, experts fear that the last whale will disappear before the age of 10 or 20. Perhaps then is the time for the Basques to take a look at their history and to speak publicly about the terrible massacres they have committed (and are still doing so) in the seas of the world. Perhaps then, more than with the festival and with self-criticism, let us celebrate the day on which we end the last one that came to our coast from the whales that took our name.
